CANBERRA: “The returns that the airports get on auto parking show that they do not face significant competitive constraints when setting prices”, Mr Sims said. Australia’s airports are delivering healthy margins to their operators, and the best profit margins are made not made from planes, but in the vehicle park where a single parking bay came earn as much as $6000 a year. Perth Airport’s revenue per passenger grew 13% in real terms to $14.48 and Melbourne Airport by 9.1% to $11.58. Australian airport passenger growth rose 3.4% year-on-year in 2015/16 as a result of robust global visitor numbers, particularly from China. Brisbane Airport’s revenue per passenger fell by 1.2% to $12.25. Both domestic and worldwide passengers increased by 6.3 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively. Statistics show these airports are enjoying considerably higher aeronautical revenue per passenger than they were ten years earlier in 2005/06.
The monitoring report revealed that the four airports were rated good in terms of quality of service. “The returns that the airports get on vehicle parking show that they do not face significant competitive constraints when setting prices”, says ACCC chairman Rod Sims. Both Melbourne and Sydney came from the satisfactory rate. This is the second consecutive year of improvement in service quality for Perth Airport. The report showed that the airports were collecting more revenue per passenger than a decade ago.
“Despite these much higher revenues per passenger, ratings of service quality are not materially different from those seen a decade ago”, Sims said. In response to the huge profits to the tune of $1.1 Billion over the past decade, Melbourne Airport spokesperson Grant Smith told The Herald Sun that the past figures don’t reflect some auto parking costs the airport incurs, such as maintenance and cleaning, which were not previously assigned against vehicle parking revenues until previous year. Developments associated with the proposed Western Sydney Airport was included in the report. “They have come at a time when most airfares have been falling and therefore airport charges are likely to have become a more significant cost item for airlines”, says the ACCC. “If Sydney Airport does not build and operate the new airport, the Government can build the airport and sell the assets once it is already established”, Sims said.
