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Proposed increase in regional airline charges at Sydney Airport rejected; Infratil flat

Analysis

MAp (+0.3%) gained only marginally on Friday (17-Sep-2010). During trading, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued its decision refusing Sydney Airport Corporation Limited's proposal to increase charges for regional airlines that serve passengers travelling within New South Wales.

Summary
  • The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission rejected Sydney Airport's proposal to increase charges for regional airlines in New South Wales.
  • Sydney Airport expressed disappointment in the decision, stating that the proposed increase was significantly lower than the increase in CPI since 2001.
  • Passenger numbers at Sydney Airport increased by 7.6% in August 2010, driven by growth in domestic and international traffic.
  • Copenhagen Airport and Brussels Airport also experienced an increase in passenger numbers.
  • Infratil reported positive traffic highlights for its European airports in August 2010, with Glasgow Prestwick seeing a 5.6% increase in passenger numbers.
  • GVK Power and Infrastructure, Hochtief, and Aeroporto di Venizia were the top gainers in airport stocks, while Korea Airport and Zurich Airport experienced a decline in share prices.

The decision responds to a proposal by Sydney Airport to increase charges for the provision of terminal, check-in, passenger security and bag screening, runways and apron parking services to regional airlines by up to 2.9% from 23-Oct-2010.

Sydney Airport expressed disappointment in the decision. CEO Russell Balding said that the proposed increase of 2.9% was significantly less than the 28.9% increase in the CPI since 2001.

See related CAPA Profile: Airport Charges and Finance

Today, it was announced passenger numbers at Sydney Airport rose 7.6% year-on-year for Aug-2010 to 3.0 million. The rise was the result of an improvement in domestic and international traffic, up 8.2% and 6.3%, respectively.

MAp's other airports, Copenhagen Airport and Brussels Airport also handled an increase in passenger numbers, up 12.9% and 2.4%, respectively.

Infratil flat

Infratil was flat. In today's trading, the company reported the following traffic highlights for its European airports in Aug-2010:

See related CAPA Profile: Traffic - Airports

Elsewhere, GVK Power and Infrastructure (+2.7%), Hochtief (+2.6%) and Aeroporto di Venizia (+2.6%) were the biggest gainers for the session, while Korea Airport (-1.4%) and Zurich Airport (-1.1%) were down.

Selected airports daily share price movements (% change): 17-Sep-2010

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