Air service providers
in Nelson are concerned about hikes to landing fees at Wellington
International Airport, introduced in April, which could put people's
commuting lifestyles at risk.
The airport's landing and
terminal charges are up more than 12 percent in the September half-year
to more than $30 million, compared with the same period last year.
Earlier
this month the Commerce Commission published a report into landing
charges, concluding that the current light-touch regulations were
allowing Wellington Airport to "extract excessive profits".
The
commission said the airport's profit targets between 2013 and 2017
amounted to overcharging of at least $21m, and up to $39m, after the
airport opted not to use the commission's formula for calculating
charges.
In financial results for the September half-year, out today, the airport's total revenues were up 8.1 per cent to $51.4m.
Sounds
Air managing director Andrew Crawford told Radio NZ the changes would
force his company's costs to go up 169 percent over the next five years.
A "peak charge" aimed at busy times, primarily driven by people commuting, was of particular concern.
"They're
trying to get rid of small aircraft in the peak times, but we don't
want to change our schedule. A lot of the passengers want to fly at that
time," he said.
Golden Bay Air chief executive Richard Molloy
said current landing fees were at a fixed charge of about $3.80 per
passenger, which would ramp up to about $30 per passenger by 2016.
Mr
Molloy said if Golden Bay Air added those charges on to its ticket
prices, then it would "become unpalatable to our passengers" and put the
service - and people's commuting lifestyles - at risk.
The airport said strong growth in the international market saw passenger numbers up 4.2 percent.
http://www.stuff.co.nz
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