Airports v airlines and the regional monopoly conundrum

Queenstown Airport was surprised to be included in a review of regulated price-setting. (Image: Supplied)

Wed, 30 Apr 2025

Is the surprise review of airport regulation really a priority, or is it a sop to the grizzling from Air New Zealand?That is the new question bedevilling investors in Auckland International Airport (AIA), one of three regulated monopoly airports in New Zealand and the only one to be listed, on both the NZ and Australian stock exchanges.On April 1, a hardly propitious date in retrospect, Jarden analyst Grant Lowe judged that the hard-fought conclusion of the four-yearly reset of the regulated weighted average cost of capital (WACC) for capital a...

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