Jetstar boss calls Auckland Airport proposed price increases ‘ridiculous’

Jetstar CEO Stephanie Tully has branded the threat of increased charges at Auckland Airport as “ridiculous”. The airport has been in a public stoush with Air New Zealand over the scale of development work, with the airline calling for an urgent inquiry into airport regulation. Auckland Airport has proposed what Air New Zealand says is a $7b to $8b development over 10 years. Air NZ CE Greg Foran said the costs associated with the redevelopment will end up being passed on to passengers, and that is something Tully agrees with. “We fully support Air New Zealand in its positioning on this issue. We agree the airport needs some work but what’s proposed is completely overdone for what’s needed,” Tully told Stuff Travel. “For Jetstar being a low fares leader, it’s really important we keep our cost base low, so we can keep offering low cost fares in that market. The design is not fit for purpose for us and for others. It’s completely overdone and we’ve said that directly to the airport and through the various submission processes so we really hope there’s some intervention now on how that can be worked out. We hate to think we’re not growing as fast as we’d like to because we have the threat of ridiculous airport costs.” Tully called on the government to intervene.<br/>