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Heathrow Airport will be allowed to charge airlines more for its services to recover fundsspent on the early stages of its third runway project.
The aviation regulator is permitting the airport to claw back up to £320m through higher airport charges to airlines for each passenger. This is likely to end up adding 15p to ticket ratesin 2028, rising to 30p in later years.
A bidder which unsuccessfully put forward a rival design involving a shorter runway, Arora Group’s Heathrow West, will also be allowed to recover £4.1m pounds in costs.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Heathrow statedsafeguards would be put in place to protect consumers from unjustified costs.
At this stage, the costs being recovered are only for the early planning and design of the runway during 2025 and 2026.
Tim Johnson, the CAA’s director of consumers and markets, told the BBC: “We’ve announced that the first tranche of costs, which is to help with the planning of this, can be recovered from passengers. That’s up to a maximum of £320m.”
Heathrow airport will also be able to collect Heathrow West’s costs up to November last year by adding to its airport charges.
The CAA statedallowing these costs to be recouped will result in the maximum airport charge per passenger increasing by around 15 pence in 2028, rising to an estimated 30 pence in the following years.
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “This project is about making travel more affordable and giving passengers more choice, while providing a real economic boost to every region and nation of the country.”
“We are carefully considering the CAA proposals and will make investment decisions accordingly,” the spokesperson added.
In November, the administrationannounced it preferred the £33bn scheme put forward by the airport over Arora’s alternative plan.
At the time, the Department for Transport statedHeathrow’s own proposal offered the most deliverable option, and the “greatest likelihood” of getting a decision on planning approval within this parliament.
The CAA’s director of consumers and markets, Tim Johnson, statedtoday’s decision “strikes a balance between supporting the delivery of benefits to consumers through timely progress on Heathrow expansion, whilst also protecting them from undue increases in costs”.
The regulator stated”safeguards” designed to monitor cost efficiency would include transparency and cost reporting requirements, and assurance by independent experts.
Airlines often complain that Heathrow is the world’s most most expensive hub airport, and have repeatedly voiced concern that the airport’s expansion plans will make it pricier.
The administrationhopes for a planning decision by 2029.
Plans for a third runway stretch back decades, with the administrationbacking the plans in 2003.
However, the idea has also long faced opposition from climate campaigners, many regionalresidents, and several politicians.
They worry an additional runway will increase air pollution, noise pollution, and breach the government’s legally binding climate commitments.
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