Addendum
Qantas attacks Australia’s fee “gouging” airports
October 1st 2018
Qantas turned a metaphorical blowtorch on Australia’s major airports in September with accusations of “blatant profiteering” and fee “gouging” in a submission to the Australian Productivity Commission. Read More »
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Qantas group executive government and regulatory affairs, v, told the commission that if airport fees were reduced by A$4 a passenger airlines would save $648 million (US$467.5 million) a year.
Parker said a lack of effective regulation had opened the door to blatant profiteering by the airports. “It is the family visiting the Great Barrier Reef for the first time, the business traveller flying from Melbourne to Sydney for meetings and the dairy farmer sending fresh milk to the Chinese market that ultimately pay for the high and rising costs,” he said.
Qantas said it had reduced its operating costs by 4% (excluding fuel) since 2015, but the fees it paid to airports had risen 6.5% in real terms.
In response, the Australian Airport Association (AAA) told the inquiry its members had made significant investments in the last 15 years to facilitate the entry into the local market of international competitors that had driven down the cost of overseas travel for Australians.
At the June annual general meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), held this year in Sydney, the global airline body called on national governments to “prioritise the long-term economic and social benefits delivered by an effective airport ahead of the short-term financial gains of a poorly thought-out privatization”. Australia’s major airports are fully privatized.
