News: Easyjet calls for changes to airport regulation
Flights > News > # 2092 (02/03/2009)
The boss of no-frills airline Easyjet has strongly criticised the group responsible for regulating Britain’s airports.
Chief executive Andy Harrison told the Daily Telegraph he was astonished that the Civil Aviation Authority is allowing airports operator BAA to raise aeronautical charges by 50 per cent at Gatwick, over the five years from April 2008, to fund a £875m programme of works that is yet to begin.
Easyjet, which carries nine million passengers to and from Gatwick per year, has already won High Court approval for a judicial review of the CAA's decision, claiming the regulator and BAA failed to consult properly. Mr Harrison is now calling for "root and branch" reform of airport regulation.
He said: "The way the system works is that the airlines have to pay in advance for the work going on. But we are not seeing any investment in Gatwick. There is no new runway, no new terminal."
He added that the situation had been exacerbated by BAA’s decision to sell Gatwick.
"The poor old airlines are paying in advance but now there's uncertainty over what the new owner will do. This is a barmy way to regulate airports."
Harrison told The Telegraph he wanted to see five fundamental changes: putting the Competition Commission in charge of which airports are regulated, instead of the CAA; ending the practice of airlines paying in advance for airport projects; and recognising that airlines not passengers are the airport's customers.
A CAA spokesman said the regulator "fundamentally disagreed" with the Easyjet chief.
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