Airlines Slam Rise in Landing Charges

By David Wilcock

Airlines and tourism leaders have condemned a decision to raise landing charges at the UK’s largest airports, fearing they will hit passenger numbers and the leisure industry.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) yesterday announced plans to allow airport operator BAA to impose inflation-busting rises on airlines landing at Heathrow and Gatwick.

Gatwick is the hub for flights from Plymouth and Newquay to the capital.

The CAA said BAA could increase charges at Heathrow in 2008/09 by 23.5 per cent compared with the charges over the past five years, while the increase at Gatwick will be 21 per cent.

At Heathrow, the charges will be allowed to rise by no more than 7.5 per cent a year above the retail price index inflation rate for the period from April 2009 to the end of March 2013, while the Gatwick annual rise will be no more than inflation plus 2 per cent a year.

Jim Cameron, chief executive of Air Southwest, which flies to Gatwick from Plymouth and Newquay, said: “These increases in charges are much higher than anticipated and while we recognise the need to improve airport infrastructures for the benefit of customers, we do not support what we regard as excessive increases.

“These charges are significantly more than were recommended by the Competition Commission.”

Exeter-based airline Flybe also attacked the decision and called for the break-up of BAA’s monopoly and the replacement of the CAA as regulator.

Though Flybe does not currently fly to the Westcountry from London, it flies there from airports including Belfast, Inverness, Newcastle, Aberdeen and the Channel Islands.

Its chief commercial officer, Mike Rutter, said: “In any marketplace where the airlines are exceptionally competitive, to award what are essentially monopolistic profits and a licence to print money to an unproductive and uncompetitive company is nothing short of a national disgrace.

“We always knew the CAA cared little about the UK regions, but this announcement proves it, as they reward BAA for years of failure and profligacy with a fat-cat rise.”

“We call on the Competition Commission to break up BAA, an organisation now owned by a debt-ridden company which clearly has no interest in the well-being of the UK economy.

“It is also time for Ruth Kelly to urgently review the position of the CAA in regulating aviation and to overturn the CAA ruling in the same way as they recently did in Stansted.”

There was also a warning that the tourism industry could suffer. Malcolm Bell, chief executive of South West Tourism, who called the announcement “very unwelcome” for the Westcountry.

“My worry is that these increases make the UK very uncompetitive, because it is already very heavily taxed,” he said, adding that attempts to attract foreign visitors flying in on short-haul low- cost trips could be impacted.

“If we are not careful, we will miss out on the growth of European air travel,” he said.

dwilcock@westernmorningnews.co.uk

(c) 2008 Western Morning News, The Plymouth (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.