Effectiveness of economic regulation for airport services
Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch international airports are subject to information disclosure regulation under Part 4 of the Commerce Act 1986. This means the Commerce Commission reviews the pricing decisions of these airports to promote greater understanding of their performance.
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Targeted consultation on the effectiveness of the economic regulation regime for airports in 2025
We engaged with a range of key stakeholders to understand their views on the effectiveness of the current regulatory regime for airports, including whether any change is needed. A common theme was that potential changes to information disclosure requirements could support better scrutiny of investment decisions.
We considered feedback and provided advice to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
No legislative reform is being pursued at this time, and we understand the Commission will be considering a review of its information disclosure requirements during 2026.
Related documents
Read the submissions received and our advice related to the 2025 targeted consultation:
Regulation of airport services: feedback from targeted consultation and next steps [PDF 305KB]
Commerce Amendment Act 2018
The Commerce Amendment Act 2018 strengthened the regulatory regime for airports under Part 4 of the Commerce Act by:
- introducing a short-form inquiry process for investigating the need to impose additional regulation on regulated airports
- clarifying that:
- the Commerce Commission’s summary and analysis for a regulated supplier can comment on the effectiveness of information disclosure
- changes to the type of regulation for a regulated airport can be made through an Order in Council process.
Related documents
Read the Cabinet paper, regulatory impact statement, discussion document, targeted consultation paper and submissions related to these 2018 amendments: