Heathrow looks to increase charges by £1 a year

Bosses at Heathrow airport have submitted a new, lower figure for the amount they say they should be allowed to charge airlines for using it from 2014 to 2019.

But the reduced figure, which will add about £1 a year to passenger ticket prices, is still much higher than that proposed by the Civil Aviation Authority.

The CAA initially said the increase in passenger charges should be capped at RPI minus 1.3 per cent. The authority will take a final decision on the charges, currently about £20 a ticket, in January.

Airport chiefs announced the revised figure as they published the results of a survey of 1,178 Heathrow passengers. This suggests passengers would rather have better services than see investment at Heathrow – which wants a third runway – cut back and air fares kept down. Under its alternative business plan, Heathrow’s charges to airlines are the equivalent of an annual increase of the RPI inflation rate plus 4.6 per cent, compared with the original plan which would see passenger charges rising by RPI plus 5.9 per cent.

The new figure would mean air fares go up by £1 per ticket per year, with charges making up just 5 per cent of the average ticket price, Heathrow said.