It remains to be seen whether fares will rise as a result of the move. (File image) Photo: Unsplash
The Civil Aviation Authority will soon charge airlines more per passenger, as it tries to reach a "sustainable financial position".
It has announced it will raise its security levies by nearly 70 percent from July.
Airlines will pay $10.91 per domestic passenger, instead of $6.57, and $22.30 per international passenger, instead of $13.12.
The CAA will more than double its safety levy to $3.92 per passenger, up from $1.20.
Cabinet signed off on the new pricing in December, and the CAA announced the changes on Friday.
The fees paid for security screening, pilot licensing, aircraft certification and other regulations that kept passengers safe, CAA deputy chief executive system and practice design John Kay said.
The safety and security levies were last adjusted in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
"Since that time, there's been both inflationary impacts, but also changes to the work that we do and the scope of the work that we do," he said.
"The authority is increasing all of its levies and its fees and its charges in order to get it back itself back into a sustainable financial position."
It would be up to airlines whether to pass the cost increases on to customers, Kay said.
"For the average kind of airfare, whether it's domestic or international, the total cost of our levies is actually relatively small.
"While there may be some increase, we don't think that increase to the passenger per se as a part of the ticket price would be that material. But in this day and age, any increase is important. What we've sought to do is keep our increases as small as we reasonably can."
The CAA is also increasing its other levies, fees and charges for airlines by 10 percent, down from a potential 43 percent rise that was floated in 2024.
There had been a lot of 'rebalancing' within the fees structure of the aviation industry, independent aviation industry commentator Irene King said.
The CAA's new charges could be attributed to new security technology, inflationary pressures and a higher volume of passengers, she said.
"The CAA is very much funded on a what we call a user-charges basis. The government contributes very little.
"During Covid, the government stepped up and funded it... now the government's backing out and we're returning much more to the traditional way that the Civil Aviation Authority is funded."
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