Airlines to be charged more to use Heathrow

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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.

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Roj (Roger James)
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