Heathrow users face fare hike as airport given green light to increase passenger charge
Now Heathrow passengers face paying £7 MORE for tickets under new plans to raise airport’s charges despite months of queue chaos
London airport has been given the green light to raise prices it charges airlinesAirport bosses had wanted to charge up to £43 in January but were blockedCivil Aviation Authority ordered to cost to be capped at £25 to £35 for five yearsHeathrow has agreed to an interim figure of £30 for passenger charge next yearIt charges £23 for cost of operating terminals, runways, baggage and security
<!–
<!–
<!–<!–
<!–
(function (src, d, tag){
var s = d.createElement(tag), prev = d.getElementsByTagName(tag)[0];
s.src = src;
prev.parentNode.insertBefore(s, prev);
}(“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/1.17.0/async_bundle–.js”, document, “script”));
<!–
DM.loadCSS(“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/gunther-2159/video_bundle–.css”);
<!–
Holidaymakers and frequent flyers are facing yet more travel misery with Heathrow set to hike the price it charges airlines by £7 per person.
The London airport has been given the green light to raise the prices it charges airlines to £30 per passenger next year.
At present, the airport can charge up to £23 per passenger for the cost of operating terminals, runways, baggage systems and security.
Airport bosses had wanted to charge as much as £43 in January.
But industry regular- the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) – stepped in and ordered the cost to be capped at £25 to £35 for the next five years.
An interim charge of £30 has now been agreed for next year.
Holidaymakers and frequent flyers are facing yet more travel misery, with Heathrow now set to hike the price it charges airlines by £8 per person
The rising cost is likely to be passed on to airline passengers, who have already endured months of travel disruption and confusing travel restrictions.
It means the average family of four face an extra £30 in flight costs next year.
But the hike will help Heathrow to recover from its huge losses suffered due to Covid.
The airport, the UK’s largest, reported a £2billion annual loss due to a huge drop in customer numbers last year.
The cost of a family summer holiday could soar by up to £100 next year due to Heathrow airport’s ‘outrageous’ price hikes, former British Airways boss Willie Walsh (pictured) warned last night
It comes as a former British Airways boss warned last week that the cost of a family summer holiday could soar by up to £100 next year due to Heathrow airport’s ‘outrageous’ price hikes.
Willie Walsh accused Heathrow of acting like a ‘greedy monopoly’ and said its wealthy shareholders must ‘step up’ to provide investment after years of generous dividend payouts.
The Irishman, who now runs the International Air Transport Association trade body, had joined BA and Virgin Atlantic in lobbying the CAA to block the price hikes.
Mr Walsh said: ‘Heathrow must understand that gouging its customers is not the road to recovery for itself, the airlines, travel and tourism jobs, or travellers.
‘I have sympathy for some airports, but looking for a 90 per cent increase, I just find that outrageous.
‘There is simply no justification for that, and the only reason they are doing that is because they believe they can.
‘Instead, it’s time for Heathrow’s shareholders to invest. The recovery of the UK’s travel and tourism industry impacts millions of jobs. They cannot be held hostage to the intransigence of what is effectively a greedy monopoly hub airport.’
Heathrow’s seven billionaire owners include the sovereign wealth funds of Qatar, Singapore and China.
It has paid out about £4 billion in dividends since 2012 and has said it could restart payouts next year, after pausing them over the pandemic, if its debts come under control.
Airlines add these charges to ticket prices, meaning a family of five could pay almost £100 more for flights from Heathrow if the proposal gets the green light from the Civil Aviation Authority regulator in the coming days. (File image)
Heathrow bases its charges on the numbers using the airport. It expects around 40 million passengers next year, compared to 80 million before the pandemic, and said this means each passenger must pay more to cover the shortfall.
Company documents show Heathrow could raise £1.6 billion from airport charges next year, to offset Covid losses of £2.9 billion.
