Darwin’s airport has taken on the unenviable title of the most expensive capital city airport in the country, after operators hiked its landing fees by more than 110 per cent.<\/p>\n
The fee hike by Darwin’s Airport Development Group (ADG), which came into effect on July 1, has already seen charter companies Hardy Aviation and Fly Tiwi raise their passenger airfares in response.<\/p>\n
Darwin-based MP and Special Envoy for Northern Australia Luke Gosling said the changes would make the NT’s landing fees “more than double anywhere else in the country”.<\/p>\n
“It’s an unacceptable increase, in my view,” he told ABC Radio Darwin.<\/p>\n
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Luke Gosling has referred the operator’s decision to raise the landing fees to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)<\/p>\n
“This is an unreasonable cash grab by the ADG \u2026 and I’ve made that clear to them.”<\/p>\n
Mr Gosling said the ADG’s fee hike had been referred to the nation’s consumer watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).<\/p>\n
“I’ll be doing what I can with the ACCC [around] this power imbalance between the monopoly ADG, who runs the airport and sets the fees, and smaller operators,” he said.<\/p>\n
Airlines accused of price gouging in Darwin<\/a><\/p>\n Sky-high airfares, poor flight times and unexpected scheduling changes have become standard in the NT capital of Darwin.<\/p>\n