Bonza says optimising slots at Sydney in national interest

afr.com:

Bonza chief executive Tim Jordan says politicians need to be willing to tackle the Australian airline duopoly by overhauling Sydney Airport, arguing slot hoarding is a drag on Australia’s productivity.

Mr Jordan, speaking at the CAPA aviation industry conference in Brisbane on Thursday, said he was nervous about Transport Minister Catherine King labelling the aviation policy green paper as “short-term”, given it ran to 2030.

Bonza CEO Tim Jordan. 

“I think this is a unique opportunity in the coming months and year for this industry to shake off the shackles of what has been a duopoly,” he said, adding that Bonza is keen to replicate its move to Melbourne’s Tullamarine at Sydney Airport.

After Ms King said the Harris Review would be picked up “shortly” as an aside to the white paper – to which the green paper was a preamble – Mr Jordan urged the government to act on slot hoarding to boost productivity and to urgently implement the recommendations of former Productivity Commission boss Peter Harris.

“You’ve got slots over here [at Sydney Airport], which are actually delivering nothing because they get cancelled. Month in, month out, they get cancelled, so they deliver nothing to the economy, nothing to tourism, nothing to customers, nothing,” he said.

“That seems like that should be in the national interest. That is a national asset, which is not being fully utilised.

“And if we, as an industry, can be supportive of most of the recommendations out of the Harris review, we can make change happen which will deliver very significant economic benefits not only to Sydney, but very, very critically to many, many points across the country. And I think that is important.”

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is