McDo'Naut does naut on airports vs airlines war - Part V
In the Oz today, Rex takes a shot at the airports...
In the Oz today, Rex takes a shot at the airports...
Quote:Rex hits out at airportsMTF...P2
ROBYN IRONSIDE
Regional Express has taken aim at airports for adopting a ‘build it and they will come’ mentality at a significant cost to carriers.
Australia’s largest regional airline has taken aim at airports for adopting a “build it and they will come” mentality at a significant cost to carriers.
In a scathing submission to the productivity commission inquiry into the economic regulation of airports, Regional Express (Rex) Airlines said many airports were undertaking upgrades to accommodate larger aircraft, without any real demand for those services.
In the case of Orange airport, the submission said a $19 million terminal and runway upgrade had resulted in the airport head tax per passenger rising 15.2 per cent, from $15.50 to $17.85. But the largest aircraft using the airport continued to be Saab 340s, with “not an A320 or B737 in sight” and passenger numbers stagnant.
“Orange airport is one of the best examples of airports that are comfortably making a tidy surplus from airport revenue and having a good reliable service …. who then started having aspirations for jet-loads of passengers based on wishful projections by consultants hired precisely for churning out such rosy outcomes,” the submission said.
Rex also singled out Mildura, Wagga Wagga, Dubbo, Mount Gambier, Kangaroo Island and King Island airports.
Melbourne airport was described as “a big cheat” because of its practice of “accepting 61 movements an hour on a runway that can only handle 50 movements”.
“Rex cannot state strongly enough that the actions of (Melbourne airport) are an extreme abuse of its market power and are both morally and ethically reprehensible,” the submission said. “Melbourne Airport should also be directed to compensate all the carriers who have suffered damages as a result of its behaviour.”
Like other airlines, Rex wants more effective regulation of airports, and the ability for the ACCC to intervene when negotiations for new commercial agreements stall.
“Rex is strongly of the belief that regional airports need to be regulated to dissuade the local councils from acting in a myopic manner that could end up destroying the local community,” the airline’s submission says.
Rex submission link: https://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_...rports.pdf