ACCC’s airport report a blow to travellers

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has released its findings on profits made by the major Australian airports, and travellers, it isn’t pretty!

While the report found that consumers are think the services they receive in major Australian airports is “good”, they are paying a heftier price for it. 

“It is encouraging to see that all four airports made it into the ‘good’ category for overall quality of service ratings this year, in addition to a second straight year of notable improvement by Perth Airport,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said in a statement. 

“The ACCC estimates that over the past decade, these airports have collected $1.57 billion more in revenue from airlines than they would otherwise have collected if average prices were held constant in real terms,” he added.

“Despite these much higher revenues per passenger, ratings of service quality are not materially different from those seen a decade ago.”

The main area that the airports are making revenue should come as no surprise. It’s parking.

Sims added that the profits the airports are making on parking shows that they aren’t affected by a competitive market when it comes to setting price. 

“Booking online can deliver the best value car parking deals,” he advices. “In comparison, those who do not pre-book must pay drive-up prices which can be double that of online prices.”

There have also been calls to regulate the airports, with governments preferring they remain unregulated, Sims said onABC RN Breakfast.

“Whenever you have a monopoly that is providing services to average consumers, that have to pay directly through their car parking or indirectly through their airline ticket, I think people do get concerned when they make very high margins.”

What do you think about the airport prices, especially on parking?  Do these charges change how you travel?  What do you think can be done about it?