ACSA announces decrease in airport taxes

Changes in tariffs for all travellers became effective from 1 April 2008 after they were approved by the Regulating Committee.

These tariffs, or Passenger Services Charges (PSC), are normally reflected on airline tickets as airport taxes.

The adjusted charges for the 2008 financial year have declined marginally when compared to last years figures.

Only the PSC portion of airport taxes accrues to ACSA.

From Tuesday, passengers were paying R6 less for domestic travel, R12 less for regional flights to Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland and as much as R16 less for international flights.

The new charges are R41 for domestic, R85 for regional and R112 for international flights.

Over the past five years to 2008, the average passenger service charge has only increased by an annual 5%.

In a statement, ACSA said members of the public are reminded that the charge is independently regulated in a manner that ensures protection for both the passenger and the company.

According to ACSA, the regulator has managed to keep the tariffs relatively low through the utilisation of a single till economic regulatory model, which allows for non-aeronautical revenues to subsidise the airline and passenger fees resulting in a reduction of these charges over time.

In this model, regulators take all sources of revenue into one till as input into the determination of a tariff base.

Article published courtesy of BuaNews