News: CAA bows to airline pressure over Stansted charges
Flights > News > # 2009 (10/12/2008)
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has outlined its proposed price controls at London Stansted for the five years from April 1 2009.
The industry regulator said it would allow maximum charges per passenger at £6.34 for the first two years, rising by 1.63 percentage points above inflation thereafter to a maximum £6.65.
The £6.34 fee is in line with the sum Stansted currently charges its airline customers and below the maximum £6.64 it can presently levy.
Easyjet welcomed the CAA's proposals, saying they "should ensure consumers continue to be protected from (Stansted operator) BAA's worst monopolistic excesses".
Ryanair, whose chief executive Michael O'Leary routinely refers to CAA economic regulator Harry Bush as an "idiot", gave the proposals a "cautious welcome".
BAA had hoped to be able to raise charges in order to help fund a planned second runway at Stansted, but the CAA said that such investment "is an issue to be considered at a later stage".
BAA said: "We are disappointed that a significant element of our spend to date has been disallowed."
In line with recommendations from the Competion Commission, the CAA is also introducing penalties for poor service, recognising that "performance has been at times unacceptably low during the past five years".
BAA will be fined up to seven per cent of passenger revenues if they allow security queues to get too long, don’t provide adequate seating or clean facilities.
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