‘If they could charge for oxygen they probably would’: Sydney Airport slammed for $9 water

SYDNEY Airport has been accused of ripping off travellers with a more than 200 per cent mark-up on this basic item.

SYDNEY Airport has been slammed for charging $9.17 for a 1.25 litre bottle of Pump Water that costs just $2.95 at Woolworths.

ABC journalist Tom Joyner posted a photo of the offending water to Twitter on Monday, writing “Behold a $9.17 (!) bottle of water at Sydney Airport.”

It’s not the first time travellers have complained about exorbitant mark-ups charged by retailers inside the airport. Last year, a photo of a $63 USB cable went viral on Reddit, with many slamming the price gouging as “airport robbery”.

“Sydney Airport is embarrassment,” one Twitter user wrote. “I guess that’s what happens when you privatise what should be a public asset. Parking is a complete rip-off, food is always terrible, now water over $9.”

Behold a $9.17 (!) bottle of water at Sydney airport pic.twitter.com/38wTrO9Zz1

— Tom Joyner (@tomrjoyner) May 6, 2018

Another added, “It’s Sydney Airport though, one of the most notoriously expensive airports in the world. If they could charge visitors for breathing the oxygen, they probably would.”

Earlier this month, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission revealed profits at the country’s four major airports continued to grow in 2016-17, with Sydney Airport earning $135 million from its car parking alone — an astonishing profit margin of 72 per cent.

“It is not surprising that the airports are so profitable, given that they face little competitive pressure and no price regulation,” ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.

Retailers have previously blamed high rent and security costs for the high prices passed on to consumers.

“Our cost of goods and our rental mean we make little profit because the airport sucks it out of us,” one bar owner inside the terminal told The Daily Telegraph in 2009. “There’s no regulation to stop them so what they do is legal.”