Some of the UK’s largest airlines have warned of the possibility of higher charges at Heathrow Airport.
This week has seen airlines including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and bmi submitting comments to a hearing held by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) relating to price controls at the airport over the next five years.
With new charges set to come into place on April 1, BAA has also come under fire for its attempts to delay the imposition of service quality targets, with BA branding the situation “unacceptable”.
Bmi, the second largest airline operating from Heathrow, has warned that BAA’s proposals for the restructuring of price controls could see charges at the airport increase by more than 40 per cent, with even greater increases possible for short-haul carriers.
“These are unfair and unreasonable proposals,” said bmi’s chief executive, Nigel Turner. “We have today again spelled out to the CAA without equivocation that they must not allow BAA the right to implement these huge increases in charges.
“Only a monopoly provider with inadequate regulation could possibly get away with increases in prices of this magnitude, when the reputation for service provision at Heathrow is at an all time low.”
He also claimed that dramatic increases in the charges that airlines using Heathrow faced would badly affect its linkage with other airports in the UK, squeezing out short-haul carriers and favouring long-haul operators.
“Airports in Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt will be celebrating if these increases go ahead, as many UK regional airports will have stronger links with them than with Heathrow in the future,” he said.
The Telegraph reported that Virgin Atlantic’s director of external affairs, Barry Humphreys, had also told the hearing that his airline was against the proposed increased charges.
“Virgin Atlantic cannot support the CAA’s over-generous November price control recommendations, which will require airport users and their passengers to pay for both the failings of the airports’ services market and the failure of the regulatory system and the regulator.”
Despite the criticism, a spokesman for BAA told the newspaper that they were committed to using the increased charges to fund important developments at the airport, with other changes funded by alternative means.
“Our principal focus has been on important investment in central search areas,” he said. “We have volunteered higher standards in other parts of the airport and airlines will not pay for those investments.”
Earlier this year, the government announced it was de-designating Manchester Airport, allowing the hub to set its own charges for airlines hoping to use its services.
