Airports Company South Africa to cut tariffs by 35.5%

Airports Company South Africa announced that a new permission to levy airport charges at its airports was promulgated on 23 December 2016 and the resultant impact on airport charges was published in the Government Gazette on 29 December 2016.

The new permission, which takes effect on 1 April 2017, sets out aircraft landing fees, aircraft parking fees and the passenger service charges that Airports Company South Africa can levy. The permission was determined by the independent industry Regulating Committee.

The new tariff decision will see a reduction in airport charges of 35.5% for the 2017/18 financial year. These charges will then rise by 5.8% in the 2018/19 financial year and 7.4% in the 2019/20 financial year.

The new passenger service charges (with prior year passenger service fees) are as follows and include VAT:

  • Passenger service charge per departing domestic passenger: R82 (R127);
  •  Passenger service charge per departing passenger for an airport within Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia or Swaziland:  R169 (R263);
  • Passenger service charge per departing international passenger: R223 (R346).

Aircraft landing fees and aircraft parking fees vary according to the maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of an aircraft and length of stay. Both sets of charges vary further according to whether the flight originated in South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana or Swaziland or outside of South Africa.

Bongani Maseko, the Chief Executive of Airports Company South Africa, commented:

“We would like to thank the Regulating Committee for all its hard work. We are happy that this process has finally concluded, and all role players in the industry can now have regulatory certainty.”

“It is important to note that the Final Permission is in line with Airports Company South Africa’s expectations and what was proposed to the Regulating Committee. We anticipated this outcome for some time, and factored it into our financial and business planning,” concludes Maseko.

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