How much will Auckland Airport cost flyers?
Stuff reports:
However, the Qantas Group’s submission claims this is what they are:
Domestic fees per passenger: $6.73 in 2023 rising to $30.30 in 2032 (350% increase).
International fees per passenger: $23.39 in 2023 to $79.95 in 2032 (240% increase).
Those Qantas figures were put to Auckland Airport, who did not agree with them.
That level of landing fees would be way way too high. It would add a huge cost to cheap domestic airfares.
Stuff asked the airport for its high and low path fee increases over the same period as the Qantas figures but they didn’t supply them. Instead, they said this: “We haven’t set prices out to 2032, only to 2027. Prices are set every five years because they rely on big variables such as interest rates and cost of construction. We will consult airlines again for the 2027-2032 prices, but we see a viable pathway for domestic jet charges to average $25 over PSE5”.
“Our charges will be going up $1.76 per year on average and at the end of 2027 will be $15.45 for domestic and $10.70 for regional.”
So let’s try and unspin this. Ab average of $25 over five years means they should add up to $125. so it could be.
- 2028 $20.00
- 2029 $22.50
- 2030 $25.00
- 2031 $27.50
- 2032 $30.00
So what Auckland Airport says doesn’t contradict what Qantas claims.
Air New Zealand’s main argument is around the proposed size of the new domestic terminal. It hired global design and engineering firm ARUP to compare Auckland Airport’s proposed domestic terminal with others around the world. It concluded the proposal is twice as big as it needs to be. It also blasts the airport for using New York’s JFK Airport as a benchmark, calling it an “inappropriate comparison”.
JFK Airport has 90 airlines, 1,200 daily flights and 62 million passengers.
Auckland Airport has 27 airlines, 210 daily flights and 16 million passengers.
On the claim of excessive profits: “Airport charges at Auckland make up just 4-6% of an average domestic airfare.
At the moment. But if they increase to $30 then they might make up 25% of an average airfare, and for cheaper airfares over half the cost!
Auckland Airport’s domestic charges have been 40-50% lower than similar airports for many years and at the end of our current pricing period will remain at or below other New Zealand Airports”.
Would be nice to have public data on landing charges for each airport in NZ, so we can judge for ourselves.
It also points out the airport has moved up the rankings of the most expensive airports in terms of operating expenditure per passenger, from 43rd in 2022 to 26 in 2023.
Not good.