ABSTRACT
In various places in this book, the point has been made that, in any analysis of competition regulation, it is important to draw a distinction between economic regulation and anti-trust regulation, notwithstanding any overlapping characteristics they may share. Under the Single Aviation Market of Australia and New Zealand (SAMANZ) Agreement of 1996, the principal forms of economic regulation over market access, fares and capacity were removed so as to vest in the airlines the freedom to decide the markets in which they wish to serve, the fares to charge and the frequency and capacity to offer. This freedom, however, cannot be unfettered. It has to be constrained by parameters which safeguard against any action, behaviour or practice that threatens to eliminate this freedom and competition. Regulating against the anti-competitive behaviour of airlines, their abuse of a dominant market position and acquisitions that are against the interests of competition thus becomes critical. To that end, the SAMANZ Agreement provides, in s 15, that all aviation activities within the single market must take place ‘in a manner consistent with competition law as it applies in the relevant jurisdiction’. To these issues we now turn, beginning with an examination of the Australian statutory structure in this chapter, the institutional arrangements and the corpus of principles which have emerged in the application of those provisions, particularly in the context of air transport competition. Similar issues relating to the New Zealand regime will make up the discussion in the next chapter. It should be prefaced that, although the emphasis in this chapter and the next will be on the application of the competition rules to the airline industry, it is difficult to avoid making references to the generality of competition regulation across the board, given the general nature of most competition laws.
