Auckland Airport's charges competitive and bring benefits to travellers

Auckland Airport has welcomed the Commerce Commission’s draft report released today, which shows Auckland Airport has operated transparently and constructively within the regulatory framework for the benefit of the travelling public and New Zealand’s economic growth. “We’ve listened to our airline partners, and we believe our international and domestic pricing models are highly competitive compared with other leading airports in New Zealand and around the world,” said Auckland Airport’s Chief Executive, Adrian Littlewood. “The Commerce Commission has concluded the current disclosure regime is working. Auckland Airport is committed to full and constructive participation in the regulatory process that relates to airports, airlines and the travelling public.” Successive accolades in the World Airport Awards are testament to Auckland Airport’s focus on expanding the quality and range of products and services for consumers across all parts of the airport experience Mr Littlewood said. In the 2013 awards, Auckland Airport was named the Best Airport in the Australia / Pacific region for the fifth year in a row and was also awarded Best Staff Service for the Australia Pacific region. Auckland also came second globally to Vancouver in the Best Airports by "size of airport", for airports handling 10 to 20 million passengers annually. “Airport charges are designed to achieve a reasonable return on significant investments in essential long-term national infrastructure.  Our charges are very competitive alongside other leading airports and represent a fair deal for airlines and the travelling public. We have endeavoured to stimulate greater passenger choice and airline competition by actively promoting New Zealand in overseas markets.” International benchmarking shows that total charges to operate at Auckland Airport are ‘middle of the pack’ compared with its peers, and domestically they are below the average for airports in this region.