Tarmac upgrades to blame as airlines defend sky high airfares

Territorians have spoken about absurdly high airfares. Read how the airlines have responded.

Major airlines will be able to continue charging exorbitant prices for late bookings despite general outrage from Top End travellers.

The NT News reported on Tuesday that fares as high as $3121 were being advertised for one-way trips to the capital cities out of Darwin but unless an actual law is being broken, which doesn’t appear to be the case, airlines are free to charge sky-high fares.

Competition watchdog the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it was well aware of the Territory’s traditionally high flying costs, but was hamstrung to do much about it.

“The ACCC has previously identified a lack of effective competition in domestic aviation as the major reason for higher airfares and poorer service for consumers,” a spokesman said.

“We continue to advocate for reforms that will promote competition in domestic aviation.

The reason Darwin Airport tarmac is being repaired.

“The ACCC does not regulate prices charged by airlines or airports. The ACCC monitors the prices, costs and profits of services at Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane airports.

“The Australian government recently reinstated the ACCC’s airline monitoring direction, which examines the prices, costs and profits of the major domestic airlines.

“We have recommenced data collection processes for our airline monitoring work and expect to publish our first report under this new direction in the first quarter of 2024.”

The NT News contacted the three major airlines travelling into Darwin

In a statement, Jetstar said travel demand to and from Darwin was “very high” this weekend, with all flights either full or close to capacity.

“While our remaining fares are more expensive, those who booked earlier are travelling one-way from as little as $90 to Adelaide, $139 to Sydney and $149 to Bali,” the spokesman said.

“All our direct flights to and from Darwin are under $1000 one-way.”

Qantas said runway works were limiting the number of passengers that could be carried per flight.

“We have some temporary capacity reductions into and out of Darwin due to runway works limiting how many passengers we can carry on each flight,” the national carrier said in a statement.

“Like all airlines, the last remaining seats on any flight are the most expensive as the cheapest fares sell out first. While some flights out of Darwin over the next few weeks are nearly full with only the most expensive fares left, there are still flights available in the next few weeks with lower fares.”

Darwin Airport Group said the $200m airport upgrades would support military and civilian air traffic into the Territory “for the next couple of decades”.