Farewell Airside Tarmac Tours
 

tours
 

Sad to see it go. I went one the tour in 2004 and it was great.

I bet the camera ban was the final nail in the coffin.

Thank you Kurt for reminding of this tour.

I'll be back in Sydney for a few weeks, so I will definitely take the tour for the first, and sadly the last time.

Anyone have up to date info on the cost of it, and how exactly I go about booking a tour? :)

Thanks for letting us know Kurt - I am sure many board members will make sure we do the tour one more time before the end.

It is a shame SACL didn't support it as much as they could have. There was nothing on their website about it - a little support like that would have spread the word. All the enthusiasts will miss it but I think it is a shame that the groups of school kids I saw on the bus won't get that chance anymore.

It was truly a unique tour considering the security around airports these days. I agree with Ryan though, the camera ban really did affect them.

Thanks to all the team behind it from day one - your passion and enjoyment for your job came out in every tour, I wish I could have that job! Thanks for sharing a different side of the airport not just for enthusiasts, but for people who know nothing about aircraft. :)

what a shame!

Syd was one of a handful including maybe 2 European airports LSZH? which had a tarmac tour in operation.

one does wonder what the real reason is as whenever ive seen the tours running they are 3/4 full or more..

Either way thanks to everyone involved- Ive done numerous tours before the camera ban and it was absolutely amazing to video the takeoffs/landings and stand by the gen holmes drive overpass as a jet roared over... imagine doing that now with a MEL repositioning A380 flight- would be bliss! Not to be:(

What disappointing news!

We too did the tour in the days of Ian’s involvement, it was fantastic.

Totally concur with Sarah’s comments.

I will look forward to trying to get another one in before June.

Thank you to all that contributed to this wonderful opportunity.

Well done.

Kind regards,

Geoff

I note I cant get onto their website, anyone know a reason, or are we all doing the same, trying to book something? Thks. G

This is very sad news. I think I've been on 5 tours including one birthday party :) and each one was inspirational for me!

Ryan, I'm keen to see how you link this statement with the one in Kurt's original post...

Sounds like SACL is winding them up, not that they (Airside Tarmac Tours) are volunteerimng to wind the business up.



Sarah, I'm pretty sure the SACL did have reference to the tarmac tours on the homepage for quite some time but I don't know when it got removed. Having said that, I'm not a regular trawler of the site...

Why?
 

Why should we accept this? If we want it to continue shouldn't we agitate with both Macquarie Airports as well as our local member of Parliament?

I have done this tour twice and my son's school, and numerous primary schools, have this as a well attended annual excursion for year 2 boys. It is an important part of educating the community about how a major airport works and is surely good PR for the airport as well?

I agree with Phil on this one. Why just accept it cos thats what SACL wants to do ?
Are we going to lie down and accept it or stand up and be counted ?


However, on a flip side and I don't know whether this would be a factor or not, but the last tarmac tour I did; the bus stopped and there was commentary going on. He had stopped too close behind a B747 that was about to push back and we were holding them up. We got shifted rather smartly.

Amongst other things, holding up airport operations could be a reason why Airport Tarmac Tours no longer fits into SACLs 'business plan'?