The privatisation of Australian airports: an evaluation

The private versus public ownership of enterprises and assets is a principle fundamental to every community or state which will have to take a decision as to where to position itself on the private/public spectrum. Whilst the decision can often be made on ideological grounds of “private is good/public is bad”, or “private is bad/public is good”, in reality each decision has its merits and demerits so that it should be evaluated within the terms of its own specificity. In the case of Australia, the decision has been taken to privatise all major airports, and this is evaluated in terms of the unique set of conditions that apply, namely distance from the rest of the world, geographic dispersal of population and a federal system of government. A less than favourable response by airport users is observed.