Heathrow to raise charges by 50 percent

LONDON - The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) signals its OK for a 50 percent higher threshold of fees at Heathrow Airport. The framework will ultimately set the maximum fees the airport operator can charge its airline customers for using the airport for the next five years at 34.40 GBP per passenger.

Airlines face higher airport bills at London-Heathrow. The CAA will allow Heathrow to increase its charges from 22.00 GBP in 2020 to a "24.50 to 34.40 GBP" range over the next five years.

"The CAA recognises that there is still significant uncertainty in the shape of the aviation industry's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic," CAA said. "These proposals will deliver affordable charges for consumers and allow the airport to continue to invest in service quality."

Heathrow Airport had requested the CAA to increase the cap on its charges per passenger to between 32.00 and 43.00 GBP. While the CAA curbed fees at 34.40 GBP, British Airways is not to happy with new charges.

"Heathrow is already the world’s most expensive hub airport", IAG CEO Luis Gallego said. "The disproportionate increase compared to other European hubs will undermine its competitiveness even further and UK consumers will be losing out."