CANBERRA, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Two of Australia's leading airline bosses called for the government to regulate landing fees while the other side accused their attempt to increase profits.
Alan Joyce, the chief executive of flag carrier Qantas, and his counterpart from Virgin, Paul Scurrah, on Wednesday met with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and urged him to intervene on their side of the dispute.
"There shouldn't be an unregulated revenue stream in a monopoly environment," Joyce told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio on Wednesday.
"There is in this case and that's bad for consumers."
Caroline Wilkie, chief executive of the Australian Airports Association, hit back at the airlines, accusing their "disingenuous attempt to increase airline profits at the expense of investment."
"In the last year alone, Qantas made more profit than the four major Australian airports combined," Wilkie told Nine Entertainment newspapers.
According to Scurrah, his airline has been charged 109 million Australian dollars (74.7 million U.S. dollars) in landing fees by airports in the last three years.
The airline bosses want the government to have the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to arbitrate when airlines and airports cannot agree on fees.
However, neither Joyce nor Scurrah could guarantee that they would pass any savings on to passengers.
The meeting between Frydenberg and the airline bosses took place one day after it was revealed that Joyce is Australia's highest-paid executive.
According to the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI), Joyce earned 23.9 million AUD (16.4 million U.S. dollars) in 2018 -- over 275 times than the average full-time wage.
