Airlines to be charged more to use Heathrow Trinidad Express 12.04.02 CASH-strapped BWIA could be facing new costs. This time in London where=20 Britain=92s aviation authority recommended last week that airlines be= charged=20 more to use London=92s airports. If implemented, the measure could add US$1= =20 or so to air fares next year. The British Civil Aviation Authority said=20 the new formula, which will apply for five years from April, would raise=20 charges to airlines by a maximum of around =A32.10 (US$3.25) per passenger= by=20 April 2008. =93The main objectives of the proposals ... are to boost=20 investment, particularly at Heathrow with Terminal 5, and to provide=20 improved services for airport users,=94 the agency. Mike Hodgkinson, chief= =20 executive of BAA PLC, the private company which owns London=92s Heathrow,=20 Stansted and Gatwick airpots, said the extra income would enable the=20 company "to carry out its 8 billion-pound (US$12.4 billion) program of=20 improvements to airports in the southeast of England." The new formula=20 "provides the minimum required, with no room for manoeuver," he=20 added. Airlines are already deploring the increase. =93Unless there are= =20 significant improvements to services by BAA, it=92s difficult to see how=20 airlines can avoid passing these cost increases on to passengers,=94 said=20 Virgin Atlantic spokesman Paul Moore. The Civil Aviation Authority will make a final decision on charges in=20 February after consulting all the interested parties. The pricing regime=20 will cover a five-year period from April 2003. There is no possibility of=20 appeal. The current price regime allows Heathrow and Gatwick to raise=20 airport charges annually by the rate of inflation minus three per cent,=20 while Stansted can raise it by inflation plus one per cent. Under the=20 Civil Aviation Authority=92s new proposals, Heathrow could charge 6.48= pounds=20 (US$10.04) a passenger for 2003-04, compared to the current =A35.60=20 (US$8.68), and increasing each year at the rate of inflation plus 6.5 per=20 cent until 2008. Charges at Gatwick would go from =A34.25 (US$6.60) to =A34.= 32=20 (US$6.70) per passenger for 2003-04, while Stansted charges would go up=20 from =A34.39 (US$6.80) to =A34.89 (US$7.60). At both airports, further= raises=20 would match inflation. BAA also criticized the Civil Aviation Authority for what it called a=20 =93substantial withdrawal of support for new spending on airport=20 security=94. In its report, released at the same time, the watchdog=20 Competition Commission recommended that BAA should continue to recover 95=20 per cent of the cost of meeting new government security charges through=20 charges to airport users. But the Civil Aviation Authority has proposed=20 that this be reduced to 75 per cent of costs above a specified level. =93We= =20 are surprised and dismayed that the CAA has ignored the Commission=92s= view,=94=20 said BAA chief executive Mike Hodgkinson. BAA says it has had to recruit=20 700 extra security staff since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the=20 United States. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (Island Events) http://www.islandevents.com (Island Events) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************