But at the time Alice Springs chief executive Dave Batic disagreed, and said the airport charged less than $30 on average per person per flight and the rest of the airline ticket costs were Qantas charges.
As of Tuesday evening, the cheapest Qantas flight from Darwin to Sydney on September 8 is $422 one-way.
The cheapest Jetstar flight for that route is $284 and the cheapest Virgin flight is $330.
$30 per person departure tax. Does Sydney levy a passenger arrival tax? Plus en-route navigation charges. Plus landing and parking charges? Plus GST being 9.09% of the fare.
Of course airport and other Government charges are a very significant part of a passenger air fare. The higher the charges, the higher the air fare.