British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have teamed up to call for lower charges at Heathrow.
The arch-rivals, together with IATA, said that the CAA should be “much tougher” in capping charges at the airport over the next five years - otherwise they would have to reduce customer services due to the extra £600 million in costs to them.
The CAA has suggested that charges rise by inflation (as measured by the retail price index) minus 1.3 per cent. But airlines want these fees capped at RPI minus 9.8 per cent. The CAA will make a final decision on the level of charges in January 2014.
The airlines said that research showed that Heathrow was already more expensive than other major hub airports such as Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
British Airways’ chief executive Keith Williams said: “Heathrow’s charges have risen more than 300 per cent in the last 11 years making it the most expensive hub airport in the world.
“As they stand, the CAA’s proposals take an airport that is currently over-priced, over-rewarded and inefficient and allow it to remain that way for the next five years with ever increasing fees.”
The submission by BA, Virgin and IATA urging the implementation of lower charges at Heathrow has been presented to the CAA ahead of tomorrow’s deadline on comments about the proposed new rates from 2014-19.
Craig Kreeger, Virgin Atlantic’s chief executive, added: “In the current economic climate, businesses across the public and private sector are making tough choices and delivering on reduced resource.
“Rather than protect airports from this, it is the CAA’s responsibility to ensure Heathrow’s behaviour reflects the commercial reality of the sector and wider economy.”