Airlines will face penalties and could lose take-off and landing slots if they decide to cancel flights at Sydney airport without a valid reason, as the government aims to help smaller airlines compete better at Australia’s largest airport.
Federal transport minister Catherine King unveiled proposed changes to the legislation governing Sydney airport on Wednesday, responding to concerns about alleged misuse of the airport’s valuable take-off and landing space.
Sydney airport is limited to 80 takeoffs and landings per hour, and there is an overnight curfew to minimize noise for those living under flight paths.
The government will crack down on airlines that strategically cancel flights but retain valuable slots by significantly increasing transparency on how slots are allocated and forcing carriers to provide reasons for cancellations or major delays, with regularly published data.
Relating to: One in 10 flights between Sydney and Melbourne have been cancelled. Is slot hoarding to blame?
Independent audits of slot usage will “detect and eliminate anti-competitive behavior”; This will give passengers information about the most reliable airlines and also allow authorities to take action.
The first inspection will be held this year.
“To ensure slots are not misused, the government will modernize its compliance regime to include penalties to address anti-competitive behavior, as well as providing updated and strengthened enforcement tools for the government to monitor airlines more closely and take effective legal action where necessary,” King said. aforementioned.
“This will benefit new entrant airlines looking to establish new services, curb misuse of slots and create a more level playing field in slot allocation processes,” he said.
“We want to make sure we have a strong capacity at Sydney airport for slots to be used rather than pretending to be used, and we want to check that that happens. It certainly sends a signal to airlines that the slots are not your property, they are the property of the traveling public in Australia.”
The government’s response addresses several years of frustration from airlines, airports and industry leaders in the aviation sector, who have accused larger airlines such as Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin of “slot hoarding”.
Slot stacking means that airlines schedule more flights than they originally planned and canceled any one service no more than 20% of the time before strategically canceling them, thus retaining costs at a competitor’s expense (this is known as slotting). 80:20 rule). Weather cancellations are not included in the airline’s limit.
Qantas Group and Virgin have consistently denied misusing slots. But critics point to long-term average cancellation data showing one in 10 flights between Sydney and Melbourne are cancelled.
Relating to: Sydney airport CEO accuses Qantas of strategically canceling flights to thwart competition
Newcomer budget carrier Bonza and formerly regional-only carrier Rex have repeatedly called for better access to the busiest slots at Sydney airport, allowing them to better establish core services across the country and compete more meaningfully with the duopoly of Qantas Group and Virgin found. 90 percent of it is in the domestic market.
On Wednesday King reiterated how important Sydney airport is to the country’s aviation routes and how new reforms should help reduce delays and disruption across the country.
“If Sydney airport sneezes, the whole network catches a cold,” King said.
Sydney airport’s chief executive Scott Charlton thanked the government for following through on recommendations made in the Harris review, which was ordered by the previous government and delivered in 2020, and which both the Coalition and later the Albanian government were criticized for failing. answer.
Before Charlton took over as CEO at the end of 2023, Sydney airport floated the idea of tightening slot cancellation limits at Sydney airport to 95:5, but King ruled out any changes to the 80:20 rule, which is a global standard. at major airports, but critics said it was not fit for purpose at the slot-constrained Sydney airport.
Regional airlines will also be prioritized in the slot allocation process, so they fly more during peak hours to provide greater service to residents looking to make day trips into the city for appointments.
There will be no change to Sydney airport’s nightly 23:00-06:00 curfew and the limit of 80 take-offs and landings per hour will be maintained, but a new “recovery period” will now be initiated after severe weather events or similar major disruptions. Due to security issues, up to 85 movements per hour will be temporarily allowed for a maximum of two hours after the outage.