Travellers pick up tab for Sydney airport charge

New Zealand travellers using Sydney airport are likely to pay more for their tickets from Monday.

From next week, international travellers buying tickets which use the airport will see a passenger services charge of $A35.10 ($40.76) on return tickets or $A17.55 ($20.38) on one-way fares.

General ticket prices previously included the charges but a change approved by the Australian Competition Consumer Commission last month means travellers will now foot the bill.

The charge is separate from the international departure tax of $A38.

Air New Zealand spokeswoman Rosie Flay said yesterday the airline's ticket prices would increase to accommodate the charge, which was an additional charge imposed by the airport on airlines.

Therefore, Air New Zealand needed to recoup the charge from its passengers.

All international passengers flying into and out of Sydney will be required to pay the new charge on tickets booked from Monday.

Those exempt will be passengers in transit who do not clear Customs or children under 2 years old.

Qantas in Australia said the airline would not be dropping its ticket prices to compensate.

Sydney Airport Corporation said the charge was not new, or a tax, but the fee paid by airlines to the airport to cover runway charges, terminal charges, anti-terrorist measures and security screening. It was up to individual airlines to decide whether they would charge passengers extra, a spokesman said.

The charge provided greater transparency for customers because it showed the proportion of a passenger's airfare that related to airport services.

"The idea was that it would be a more transparent and visible means of displaying airport costs."