The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has issued its final decision on a proposal to increase aeronautical charges at Melbourne Airport.
"The ACCC approved an increase in the landing charge of 7.9 cents per tonne and an increase in the international passenger charge of 3 cents per tonne GST inclusive", Acting ACCC Chairman, Mr Allan Asher, said today. "The operator of Melbourne Airport, Australia Pacific Airports Melbourne, had sought approval to increase the landing charge by more than double this amount.
"The decision means APAM can increase charges by these amounts without affecting its compliance with the aeronautical price cap.
"APAM sought the increases to recover the cost of various infrastructure investments at Melbourne Airport. Two of the projects were committed to by the Federal Airports Corporation prior to the sale of Melbourne Airport to APAM. The largest of these was the extension of the southern freight apron which took place in 1997 at a cost of over $3 million.
"The ACCC rejected APAM's proposed increases to recover the costs of these FAC projects. The new investment provisions are a forward-looking measure designed to give airport operators an incentive to develop necessary new aeronautical infrastructure. The ACCC considers it is not appropriate for airport operators to seek to use these provisions to recover the costs of projects which were committed to by the FAC".