OFFICIAL

Hi Andrew

We acknowledge receipt of your request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) on 5 November 2024 and note that your request has been given the internal file reference FOI 24-78.

You have requested the following:

- What percentage of your executive team and board has been granted exclusive access to the Chairman's Lounge (Qantas) or the Beyond Lounge (Virgin Australia)?
- How often have your executives and board members been given free flights or flight upgrades by the major airlines for personal travel?

Unless you advise otherwise, drafts, duplicate documents and the personal information of Airservices+IBk- staff (e.g. names, contact details, position titles, signatures) will be excluded from the scope of your request under section 22(1)(b)(ii) of the FOI Act.

The statutory period for processing your request is 30 calendar days commencing from the day after the request was received, in this case the due date for our decision is: Thursday 5 November 2024.

However, if your request captures documents that contains information concerning the business, commercial or financial affairs of another organisation or individual (third party), Airservices is required to consult with these third parties concerned before deciding on the release of those documents (see section 27 of the FOI Act).

If consultation is undertaken with any third party, the initial 30-day period for processing your request will be extended by a further 30 calendar days (see section 15(6) of the FOI Act). We will provide further notification in writing if it is determined that consultation is required.

Kind regards
Saira.

Freedom of Information

foi+AEA-airservicesaustralia.com
GPO Box 367, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

Important: This message may contain confidential or legally privileged information. If you think it was sent to you by mistake, please delete all copies and inform the sender.

OFFICIAL

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OFFICIAL

My apologies, Andrew - confirming the due date for our decision is Thursday 5 December 2024.

Thanks
Saira.

OFFICIAL

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OFFICIAL
 
Dear Mr Terhorst
 
Airservices is processing your FOI request (F24-78) that is currently due
5 December 2024. Please see the following update and a request for an
extension. 
 
***
Airservices currently has several open Questions on Notice (QoN) that
include questions that are also covered by the scope of your FOI request
e.g. airline lounge memberships and flight upgrades.
 
Airservices is still collating its responses to these QoNs, after which
they will be progressed through Airservices’ Minister to the relevant
Senator.
 
The Senate Practice and Procedure accessible via
[1]https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/...
provides further information on the QoN process and includes:
 

* the text of each QoN will be published in the next issue of the Notice
Paper; and
* Questions on notice and responses from ministers can be searched in
the Questions on notice [2]database.

 
As you may appreciate, processing an FOI request in parallel to responding
to open QoNs on the same subject matter presents a degree of complexity.
 
As such, FOI is hoping to defer your decision until Airservices’ QoN
responses have been finalised and submitted to the relevant Senators if
possible. Our request to defer your decision is in effect a request for an
extension under s15AA of the FOI Act and we are seeking an extension of 30
days with a new decision date of 4 January 2024.
 
As this date falls on a Saturday, Airservices will provide you with the
decision by COB Monday 6 January 2024. 
 
Please reply to this email to confirm whether you agree to this extension.
 
Kind regards
Kathryn
 
***
In the meantime, you may wish to refer to the following publicly available
documents that they may be of interest as they relate to the scope of your
request:
 

 1. Airservices Interim CEO, Mr Rob Sharp, stated on public record at the
last Senate Estimates that no Airservices executive have Qantas
Chairman's Lounge memberships (refer to page 116 of the publicly
available transcript at [3]Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport
Legislation Committee_2024_11_04.pdf;fileType=application/pdf).

 2. Airservices publishes a register of received gifts and benefits for
the CEO and Executive on its website at:
[4]https://www.airservicesaustralia.com/cor... . The
register includes all executive flight upgrades (personal and
business) and was last updated for the period 1 Jul to 30 Sep 2024.
The next update to the register covering 1 Oct to 31 Dec 2024 will
likely be published on the website in February or March 2025.

 
 
Freedom of Information
Email [5][Airservices request email]
 
GPO Box 367, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
 
Important: This message may contain confidential or legally privileged
information. If you think it was sent to you by mistake, please delete all
copies and inform the sender.
 

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