Application for declaration of particular services at Sydney and Melbourne international airports

Australian Cargo Terminal Operators Pty Ltd (ACTO) applied, on 6 November 1996, for declaration of particular services at Sydney and Melbourne international airports. The services for which declaration was sought were:

the service provided through the use of the freight aprons and hard stands to load and unload international aircraft at Sydney international airport (S1) and Melbourne international airport (M1)
the service provided by the use of an area at the airport to store equipment used to load/unload international aircraft; and to transfer freight from the loading/unloading equipment to/from trucks at Sydney International Airport (S2) and Melbourne International Airport (M2), and
the service provided by use of an area to construct a cargo terminal at Sydney International Airport (S3) and Melbourne International Airport (M3).

(ACTO’s application also sought the declaration of ramp and cargo terminal services at both Melbourne and Sydney international airports operated by each of Qantas and Ansett. The Council determined that it would consider the services provided by the Federal Airports Corporation first and would deal with the Qantas and Ansett services when the services identified above were determined. ACTO subsequently withdrew its application for the services provided by Qantas and Ansett).

Recommendation and decisions

The Council recommended to the Commonwealth Treasurer that the services specified at 1 and 2 above (S1, S2, M1 and M2) should be declared, but those specified at 3 should not (S3 and M3). On 14 July 1997, the Treasurer announced he accepted the Council’s recommendations declaring and not declaring the services accordingly.

The Melbourne airport services (M1 and M2) were declared from 1 August 1997 until 9 June 1998. The Sydney airport services were declared for a period of five years from 1 August 1997 to 31 July 2002.

Review – the services at Sydney international airport

The service provider, the Federal Airports Corporation (now Sydney Airports Corporation Limited) appealed the Treasurer’s decision to declare services S1 and S2 at Sydney international airport to the Australian Competition Tribunal. The Competition Tribunal heard the matter in December 1998.

Delivering its decision on 1 March 2000, the Competition Tribunal:

Declared the service provided by the use of the freight and passenger aprons and the hard stands at Sydney international airport for the purpose of enabling ramp handlers to load freight from loading equipment onto international aircraft and to unload freight from international aircraft onto unloading equipment
Declared the service provided by the use of an area at Sydney international airport for the purpose of enabling ramp handlers:

to store equipment used to load and unload international aircraft, and
to transfer freight from trucks to unloading equipment and to transfer freight from unloading equipment to trucks at the airport.

The declaration of the services at Sydney international airport took effect on 1 March 2000 for a period of 5 years.

The application, issues paper, submissions, final recommendation and the Minister’s decision and reasons are available below.

Decisions of the Tribunal can be accessed at www.austlii.edu.au