AAP
Ratings agency Moody's Investors Service says the credit ratings of Australian airports are safe for now but a recent report from the competition watchdog has raised the prospect of a tougher regulatory environment affecting earnings.
Moody's vice-president and senior analyst Paul Ovnerud-Potter says the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) most recent airport monitoring report does not have an immediate effect on the ratings of Australian airports or the stable outlook for the sector.
But Mr Ovnerud-Potter said in a statement that the ACCC report and the prospect of an earlier review by the Productivity Commission "raise some uncertainty surrounding the airports' rate setting framework".
"Uncertainty and possible pressure to reduce charges that currently support the airports' revenue stability could ultimately have a negative impact on credit quality, and potentially ratings, over time," Mr Ovnerud-Potter said on Friday.
"Moody's approach for rating airports specifically factors in regulation and rate-setting as major criteria for determining our ratings in the sector."
The ACCC report, published on March 11, said Sydney Airport was Australia's worst performing large airport and had the highest average per passenger charge.
The Productivity Commission was due to complete a report Australia's airport operations in 2012, but Transport Minister Anthony Albanese has called for the report to be delivered as soon as possible.
