What the ACCC does
- We assess proposed price increases from Sydney Airport for regional air services.
- We assess proposed price increases from Airservices Australia.
What the ACCC can't do
- We don’t regulate airports or airlines.
On this page
About the price notification process
The price notification process allows us to publicly assess proposed price increases in markets where there isn’t enough competition. These are markets that may not achieve efficient prices for consumers.
Price notification rules are in Part VIIA of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. These rules form the legal basis of our functions.
What price notification applies to
Price notification only applies to notified goods and services from declared firms. The Minister makes the decision on these firms, and the goods and services that are notified.
There are 2 declared firms in relation to airports and aviation:
- Sydney Airport for regional air services
- Airservices Australia.
Declared firms must inform the ACCC of any proposed price increase to notified goods and services.
What we do in assessing price notifications
We assess proposed price increases to notified goods and services.
After assessing proposed price increases, we can either:
- not object to the increases
- not object to increases lower than those proposed
- object to the proposed increases.
We let the applicant know of the outcome.
See our guidelines outlining the ACCC’s approach to assessing price notifications.
Public register of price notifications
Our price notifications register lists notifications lodged by Sydney Airport and Airservices Australia.
Sydney Airport’s services for regional airlines
We assess notifications of proposed price increases from Sydney Airport. These are for aeronautical services and facilities provided to regional air services.
The services are declared under:
The declaration began on 1 July 2023 and ends on 30 June 2026.
Pricing standard
In assessing price notifications from Sydney Airport, we also follow a pricing standard.
The pricing standard limits any increase in price within a financial year. The increase cannot be more than the increase in the consumer price index for the same year.
The pricing standard is directed under:
The direction began on 1 July 2023 and ends on 30 June 2026.
Airservices Australia
We assess notifications of proposed price increases from Airservices Australia.
Airservices Australia is a government-owned organisation. It provides:
- air traffic control services
- aviation firefighting and rescue services to airports and airlines.
These services as declared under:
Price notification projects
See a complete list of airport and aviation price notifications provided to the ACCC.
On 27 September 2023, Airservices Australia submitted the first iteration of its draft price notification to the ACCC proposing increases to its charges for enroute navigation, terminal navigation, and aviation rescue and fire-fighting services. Airservices provided a formal price notification to the ACCC on 1 October 2024.
Airservices Australia (Airservices) has submitted a draft price notification to the ACCC proposing increases to its charges for terminal navigation (TN) and aviation rescue and fire-fighting (ARFF) services, effective from 1 July 2015.
On 10 June 2014 Airservices submitted a formal price notification to the ACCC proposing new charges for en route, terminal navigation and aviation rescue and fire-fighting services, effective from 1 July 2014.
The ACCC released its decision to not object to Airservices' price notification on 14 June 2013.
The Airport quality of service monitoring guideline was issued in June 2013
On 14 August 2013 the ACCC released its decision, which was not to object to the price notification.
The ACCC released its decision to not object to Airservices' price notification on 27 June 2012.
The ACCC released its decision to not object to this price notification on 22 September 2011.
The ACCC decided to object to the price increases in SACL's price notification for regional air services and released its final decision on 17 September 2010.
The ACCC decision is to not object to Airservices Australia’s proposed price for a terminal navigation service provided to aircraft landing at Avalon aerodrome.
The development process of the Airport quality of service monitoring guideline involved two rounds of consultation before a final guideline was released in October 2008.