While the rest of the world struggles amid the global financial crisis, Australia’s economy is resurgent, thanks primarily to a healthy minerals trade with China.

Business jet marketers in the United States might envy their counterparts in Australia in the recessionary era of low sales. “Business aviation has gained momentum in the last three years, with development in all facets of it, especially the big iron,” Mike Keenan told BCA. Kennan is sales manager at Cessna dealer Aeromil Pacific at Bankstown Airport in a suburb of Sidney. A veteran aircraft salesman, he also serves as chairman of the Australian Business Aircraft Association.

Australia has made a major investment in installing and implementing an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) network with near nationwide reach to address a lack of radar coverage over much of the continent. We polled Airservices Australia’s Amanda Palmer, media and public affairs advisor, about the new Upper Airspace Program. BCA: What was Australia’s investment in its ADS-B network (i.e., roughly, how much did it cost)?