Stats from the ACCC’s latest Airport Monitoring report show Australia’s four main airports earned A$337 million in profit from parking in the year following the pandemic.
The stats show Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, saw a 168 per cent increase in revenue and profit for their parking operations in 2022 – 2023 – the first full financial year since the end of COVID.
ACC Commissioner, Anna Brakey says, “Australia’s four largest airports reported a significant increase in aeronautical revenues and a return to aeronautical operating profits in 2022-23, as interstate and international travel restrictions ended and people returned to the sky”.
“As passengers returned in 2022-23, aeronautical revenues increased more than expenses, which lifted profit margins closer to pre-pandemic levels.”
The airport with the highest ‘aeronautical’ operating profit margin was Perth followed by Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Passenger numbers still lagging
The four airports reported a total of 100.7 million passengers passing through in 2022-23, up 127.4 per cent from the previous year.
However, the number of domestic passengers was still 10.4 per cent below pre-pandemic levels and international passengers 31 per cent below.
Meanwhile, the ACCC says it has requested that the Aeronautical Pricing Principles, which sets the framework for addressing prices, service delivery and the conduct of airports, be reviewed, “to make them mandatory and enforceable”.
Brakey says, “We believe there needs to be greater requirements on airports to provide information to airlines, to address the imbalance of power in commercial negotiations”.
For more information, visit accc.gov.au.
