Australian government to reform Sydney airport slot system

The Australian government is announcing what it terms a ‘major package of reforms’ to the Sydney Airport demand management scheme, updating the current demand management system to ‘encourage competition’. Although no changes will be made to existing curfew arrangements or movement caps (currently set at 80 flights an hour), the government plans to ‘significantly increase transparency about how slots are allocated’, alongside monitoring information on how slots are used, conducting independent audits and imposing penalties for anti-competitive behaviour. The first independent audit of slot usage will be carried out this year, ‘meaning that misuse of slots will be uncovered and