{"id":"aerodrome-landing-fees-act-2003","name":"Aerodrome Landing Fees Act 2003","slug":"aerodrome-landing-fees-act-2003","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"vic","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":28672,"registerId":"vic-aerodrome-landing-fees-act-2003-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Aerodrome Landing Fees Act 2003","content":"Version No. 003\n\n**Aerodrome Landing Fees Act 2003**\n\n**No. 79 of 2003**\n\nVersion as at  \n14 June 2012\n\n**table of provisions**\n\n*Section Page*\n\n1 Purpose 1\n\n2 Commencement 1\n\n3 Definitions 1\n\n4 Act to bind the Crown 2\n\n5 Act does not affect other powers with respect to fees 2\n\n6 Aerodrome operator may fix a fee 3\n\n7 Liability for payment of fees 4\n\n8 Recovery of debt 4\n\n9 Regulations 5\n\nENDNOTES 6\n\n1. General Information 6\n\n2. Table of Amendments 7\n\n3. Explanatory Details 8\n\n**Version No.** **003**\n\n**Aerodrome Landing Fees Act 2003**\n\n**No. 79 of 2003**\n\nVersion as at  \n14 June 2012\n\n**The Parliament of Victoria enacts as follows:**\n\n\t1 Purpose\n\nThe purpose of this Act is to provide that an aerodrome operator may fix a fee for—\n\n(a) an arrival, departure or parking of an aircraft;\n\n(b) a training flight approach by an aircraft;\n\n(c) carrying out any directly related activity or service.\n\n\t2 Commencement\n\n(1) Subject to subsection (2), this Act comes into operation on a day or days to be proclaimed.\n\n(2) If a provision of this Act does not come into operation before 1 January 2004, it comes into operation on that day.\n\n\t3 Definitions\n\nIn this Act—\n\n***aerodrome*** means land used or intended for use wholly or partly for the arrival, departure or movement of aircraft, but does not include an aerodrome excluded by regulation from the ambit of this definition;\n\n***aircraft*** means an aircraft registered under Part 3 of the Civil Aviation Regulations;\n\n***Aircraft Register*** means the Aircraft Register established and kept under Part 3 of the Civil Aviation Regulations;\n\n***Civil Aviation Regulations*** means the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 of the Commonwealth;\n\n***holder of the certificate of registration***, in relation to an aircraft, means the person whose name is entered in the Aircraft Register as the holder of the certificate of registration of that aircraft;\n\n***operate***, in relation to an aerodrome, includes manage, maintain and improve the aerodrome;\n\n***training flight approach***, in relation to an aerodrome, means a planned descent to, or in the immediate vicinity of, a runway at the aerodrome, whether or not the aircraft touches the runway, during a flight undertaken for the training or testing of a person as a pilot or member of a flight crew.\n\n\t4 Act to bind the Crown\n\ns. 4\n\nThis Act binds the Crown in right of Victoria and, so far as the legislative power of the Parliament permits, the Crown in all its other capacities.\n\n\t5 Act does not affect other powers with respect to fees\n\nThis Act does not limit or affect contractual or other powers, rights or obligations of aerodrome operators to charge and recover aerodrome fees.\n\n\t6 Aerodrome operator may fix a fee\n\n(1) An aerodrome operator may fix a fee in relation to that aerodrome for any or all of the following—\n\n(a) arrival of an aircraft;\n\n(b) departure of an aircraft;\n\n(c) parking an aircraft;\n\n(d) a training flight approach;\n\n(e) the carrying out of an activity, or the provision of a service, directly related to the arrival, departure, parking or training flight approach of an aircraft;\n\n(f) late payment of a fee fixed under this section, other than this late payment fee.\n\n(2) If an aerodrome operator fixes a fee under this section, a notice setting out the fee must be published in the Government Gazette and in—\n\ns. 6\n\n(a) a daily newspaper circulating generally in the State; or\n\n(b) a periodical publication prescribed by the regulations.\n\n(3) A fee fixed under this section—\n\n(a) may be replaced by a different fee fixed in accordance with this section;\n\n(b) comes into force on the day specified in the notice of the fee published under this section and not earlier than the day after the day on which the notice is last published under subsection (2).\n\n(4) In fixing fees under this section, an aerodrome operator—\n\n(a) is entitled to ensure that the amount of money collected in fees under this section is sufficient to cover the cost to the aerodrome operator of providing the service or carrying out the activity;\n\n(b) may allow for the reduction, waiver or refund, in whole or in part, of any fee in specified circumstances.\n\n(5) Nothing in this Act compels an aerodrome operator to fix a fee under this section.\n\n\t7 Liability for payment of fees\n\ns. 7\n\n(1) Subject to subsection (2), if a fee fixed under section 6 is incurred in respect of an aircraft, the holder of the certificate of registration of the aircraft is liable for payment of the fee to the aerodrome operator.\n\n(2) The holder of the certificate of registration may, by agreement in writing, assign to another person the liability or future liability for the payment of a fee fixed under section 6.\n\n(3) Unless the agreement otherwise specifies, a person to whom liability is assigned under subsection (2) is to notify each relevant aerodrome operator of the details of the agreement.\n\n\t8 Recovery of debt\n\nAn aerodrome operator may, by commencing proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction, recover a fee fixed under section 6 as a debt owing to the aerodrome operator from the person liable under this Act for the payment of the fee.\n\n\t9 Regulations\n\ns. 9\n\nThe Governor in Council may make regulations for or with respect to any matter or thing required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed or necessary to be prescribed to give effect to this Act.\n\n\n\nENDNOTES\n\n1. General Information\n\n\nEndnotes\n\n*Minister's second reading speech—*\n\n*Legislative Assembly: 28 August 2003*\n\n*Legislative Council: 18 September 2003*\n\nThe long title for the Bill for this Act was \"to provide for the fixing of a fee by an aerodrome operator for certain matters and for other purposes.\"\n\nThe **Aerodrome Landing Fees Act 2003** was assented to on 11 November 2003 and came into operation on 1 January 2004: section 2(2).\n\n1. Table of Amendments\n\n\nEndnotes\n\nThere are no amendments made to the **Aerodrome Landing Fees Act 2003** by Acts and subordinate instruments.\n\n1. Explanatory Details\n\n\nEndnotes\n\nNo entries at date of publication.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act’s text grants aerodrome operators express power to fix and publish specified fees, allocates liability to registered aircraft holders with an assignment mechanism, and preserves other contractual fee powers (see ss 1, 5–7). The source shows no recorded amendments; therefore the statutory scope as enacted has not been altered in the material provided."},"complexity_factors":["Narrow subject matter: limited to landing/related fees and recovery mechanisms (s 1, s 6).","Clear allocation of liability to the aircraft’s registered holder with a straightforward written-assignment alternative (s 7).","Simple enforcement route: recovery as a debt in a court of competent jurisdiction (s 8).","Administrative requirement for public notice in the Government Gazette and newspaper or prescribed periodical adds minor procedural compliance (s 6(2)).","Operator discretion to set, vary, waive or refund fees subject to publishing requirements and cost-recovery principle (s 6(3)–(4)).","Regulation-making power for ancillary matters provides limited delegated-law complexity (s 9)."],"plain_english_summary":"This Act lets an aerodrome operator set and publish fees for arrival, departure, parking, training flight approaches and related services, and to charge a late-payment fee. The registered holder of an aircraft’s certificate is liable for those fees unless liability is assigned in writing; unpaid fees may be recovered as a debt. The Act allows fees to be set to cover an operator’s costs and permits reductions, waivers or refunds, and requires publication of fee notices in the Government Gazette and a newspaper or prescribed periodical."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose. The long title states it was 'to provide for the fixing of a fee by an aerodrome operator for certain matters and for other purposes' – and the Act does exactly that, covering only landing fees, parking, training approaches, and related services. No amendments have expanded the scope beyond this core function."},"complexity_factors":["Short statute: only 9 operative sections plus endnotes","Minimal defined terms: 7 definitions in section 3, all straightforward (e.g., 'aerodrome', 'aircraft', 'training flight approach')","No cross-references to other Acts except Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 (external reference for definitions only)","Simple conditional logic: only one nested structure (section 6(1)(f) referring back to itself for late fees)","No exceptions to exceptions or deeply nested subsections","Clear purpose clause and straightforward operative provisions","No delegated legislative instruments attached or complex machinery provisions"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this law does:**\n\nThis Act gives **aerodrome operators** (the people or companies who run airports) the power to charge fees for aircraft using their facilities. Specifically, they can charge for:\n\n* **Arrivals and departures** – planes landing or taking off\n* **Parking** – leaving aircraft at the airport\n* **Training flight approaches** – practice landings (even if the plane doesn't actually touch the runway)\n* **Related services** – anything directly connected to these activities\n* **Late payment fees** – penalties for paying bills late\n\n**Who it affects:**\n\n* **Aircraft owners** (technically the \"holder of the certificate of registration\" – the person officially registered as owning the plane) are legally responsible for paying these fees, though they can pass this responsibility to someone else by written agreement\n* **Aerodrome operators** – they get a clear legal framework for charging and recovering fees\n* **Pilots and airlines** – they ultimately pay these costs, even if through the owner\n\n**Key protections and rules:**\n\n* Fees must be **published** in the Government Gazette and a newspaper or approved publication before they take effect\n* Fees can't start until **the day after** the last publication\n* Operators must ensure fees **cover their costs** – they can't profiteer arbitrarily\n* Operators can choose to **reduce, waive or refund** fees in special circumstances\n* **No one is forced to charge fees** – the Act simply provides the power, not a requirement\n* The Act **doesn't interfere** with existing contracts or other legal ways operators already charge fees\n\n**Why it matters:**\n\nBefore this Act, there was uncertainty about whether airport operators could legally charge for these services, or how they could enforce payment. This law creates a straightforward debt-recovery mechanism (operators can sue in court for unpaid fees) and ensures transparency through public notice requirements. It strikes a balance: operators get sustainable funding for maintaining facilities, while users get procedural fairness and cost-recovery limits."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/aerodrome-landing-fees-act-2003","history":"/api/acts/aerodrome-landing-fees-act-2003/history","analysis":"/api/acts/aerodrome-landing-fees-act-2003/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/aerodrome-landing-fees-act-2003/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/aerodrome-landing-fees-act-2003/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/aerodrome-landing-fees-act-2003/documents"}}