After several letters to the GM of Bankstown Airport Ltd, the last he did not bother to reply to, I have lodged a complaint with the NSW Dept of Fair Trading. ACCC did not seem interested although I believe AOPA and the Bankstown Airport Chamber are pursuing the matter with them.
To quote from Fair Trading's website on advice to business ...
You cannot "take unfair advantage of vulnerable customers, which is also known as unconscionable conduct. This may occur where customers have no alternative than to do business with you (for example, you may be the only shop in a country town) or where you have a product or service that is in high demand, and you abuse your bargaining power. A common example of this is where customers are pressured to sign a contract that they can't understand and which includes unfair conditions."
In my view BAL are engaging in "unconscionable conduct" since as the operator of the only three licenced GA airfields in the Sydney basin they are a monopoly. To say they are taking advantage of vulnerable customers is an understatement. Their claim that they have not increased charges by 111% but merely reduced the discount given is appalling. What normal ethical business would increase charges to customers by 111% and then try to justify it with manipulation of "discounts". They would not stay in business.
Despite the long and significant history of the three airfields as AIRFIELDS, BAL is clearly not interested in the GA aviation side. Bankstown is a business park and Hoxton and probably Camden are future sales to land developers. No doubt an attractive offering on this basis to any new owners. I would be very concerned if I had an aviation business at any of them.
What is happening in this country? Who decided that everything must now be justified only on the basis of "economics" and all human endeavours, aspirations and dealings can and should be measured by monetary cost? Who decreed that Australia is now no longer a human society but an "economy". Please no partisan politics. It goes much deeper than that.
I have been forced to vote with my feet and make other arrangements for the time being, but will not be going quietly. If enough refuse to accept this outrageous gouging perhaps BAL will have to reconsider. I hope the "fair" in "Fair Trading" means what it should mean.