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Heathrow Fees - Up 53%

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TravelDream

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Airport fees for passengers departing from Heathrow are set to rise way ahead of inflation, with the current £19.60 per person charge rising to £30 on New Year’s Day.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has raised its cap on passenger fees by 53 per cent while it conducts a consultation on the rates that should apply in the five-year spell from summer 2022.
To prevent fees rising way beyond any other airport and inflating the cost of flying, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) capped the amount Heathrow can charge.

But as a result of the Covid-19 crisis and government travel restrictions, the airport has slipped way down the European league.

According to figures issued on Tuesday morning by Eurocontrol, Heathrow was in fifth place behind Amsterdam, Istanbul, Frankfurt and Paris Charles de Gaulle for flights operated last week– having lost 42 per cent of 2019 traffic, more than any of its busier rivals.


By July 2021, Heathrow’s cumulative losses during the pandemic had grown to £2.9bn. The airport’s owners had hoped fees could more than double to help it recover financially.

Heathrow asked the CAA increase the cap on its charges per passenger to between £32 and £43 – representing a rise in the range of 63 to 119 per cent on current levels.

Hardly a great advert for 'global Britain' when fees increase this much at the end of the pandemic to satisfy Heathrow's foreign owners.

I expect a number of airlines to look closely at competing airports like Gatwick, Luton and Stansted.
 
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JonathanH

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I expect a number of airlines to look closely at competing airports like Gatwick, Luton and Stansted.
Heathrow is where passengers want to fly. £30 may well pale into insignificance against other parts of the fare.
 

TravelDream

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Heathrow is where passengers want to fly. £30 may well pale into insignificance against other parts of the fare.
That's just not realistic.
Both leisure and business travel has never been as fare driven as it is today.

Ok, on a X thousand pound business class ticket to Oz, it's very little. However, on a ticket to Paris, Rome, Warsaw or Madrid it could make up a significant portion of the fare a passenger pays. We don't live in a world of legacies any more. We live in a world of Ryanair, Wizz and easyjet.

BA coming out so strongly against this shows they know how much it could damage their business.
 

JonathanH

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BA coming out so strongly against this shows they know how much it could damage their business.
BA want to concentrate on Heathrow and ensure they don't have to resume an operation at Gatwick so have a vested interest in the charges at Heathrow. Of course, it might be noted that, notwithstanding the airport operator charges, they themselves can charge more for flights from Heathrow so to some extent this is about their cut of the fare relative to Heathrow's.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/ba...rapping-gatwick-flights-telegraph-2021-10-03/

BA's main operations run out of London and Britain's biggest airport Heathrow. During the pandemic, when it has struggled financially, it has focused on Heathrow's more profitable routes.

Historically it says its short-haul operations at Gatwick have been unprofitable, and it wants to create a new unit which runs more cheaply but which it says will offer a "full service" with the look and feel of BA.

For BA - Heathrow = profitable - Gatwick = unprofitable.
 
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TravelDream

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BA want to concentrate on Heathrow and ensure they don't have to resume an operation at Gatwick so have a vested interest in the charges at Heathrow. Of course, it might be noted that, notwithstanding the airport operator charges, they themselves can charge more for flights from Heathrow so to some extent this is about their cut of the fare relative to Heathrow's.

I think you forget BA are playing a game of chess against numerous opponents.
BA will be back in Gatwick in summer 2022. I'm fairly certain.

For 2019 BA - Heathrow = profitable - Gatwick = profitable. Heathrow doesn't have the capacity to take BA 2019's operations.

You forget too the two airports serve two very different markets with Gatwick focusing on European and Carribean leisure destinations like Orlando, Jamaica, the Costa and Greek islands.
 

miklcct

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You forget too the two airports serve two very different markets with Gatwick focusing on European and Carribean leisure destinations like Orlando, Jamaica, the Costa and Greek islands.
Isn't the short-haul market segmented by local area served instead, i.e. Heathrow mainly serves the areas west of London, and Gatwick serves the areas south of London?! (although for long-haul flights to Asia you don't really have a choice)

For example, for travellers based in Brighton, choosing Gatwick is a no-brainer if both airports provide the flight they want.
 

RT4038

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With the losses that all the airports have suffered in the last 18 months - if Heathrow's charges go up, the others are sure to follow.
 

cactustwirly

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They might pretend to look, and then pay up.

Gatwick is the only Airport that really competes with Heathrow, Stansted is horrible and Luton isn't great either.

For me the passenger experience at Heathrow is worth the extra.
 

Butts

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Noticed yesterday Heathrow is starting to charge a £5 Drop Off Fee outside of Terminal 5 soon.
 
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Noticed yesterday Heathrow is starting to charge a £5 Drop Off Fee outside of Terminal 5 soon.

The drop off charge came into force today (1st Nov) and applies to all terminals, not just T5.

Fake justification - to help reduce the level of air pollution around Heathrow.
But - no exemption or reduction for EV’s or other zero emission vehicles and free drop off from ICE vehicles is provided for in the long stay car parks on the north side, inside the airport’s estate.

Fake justification - helps reduce airport costs that will otherwise, ultimately be passed on to passengers.
But - passengers or their family members or friends will still be paying through these charges.
Similarly, private hire taxis will pass on the charge to the passengers via the taxi fares.

How UK airports have managed to get away with this scam, with almost no challenge, is a mystery.
What if Tesco’s et al, started charging customers when entering the store, claiming that the charge would help reduce the cost of their shopping?


.
 

miklcct

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The drop off charge came into force today (1st Nov) and applies to all terminals, not just T5.

Fake justification - to help reduce the level of air pollution around Heathrow.
But - no exemption or reduction for EV’s or other zero emission vehicles and free drop off from ICE vehicles is provided for in the long stay car parks on the north side, inside the airport’s estate.

Fake justification - helps reduce airport costs that will otherwise, ultimately be passed on to passengers.
But - passengers or their family members or friends will still be paying through these charges.
Similarly, private hire taxis will pass on the charge to the passengers via the taxi fares.

How UK airports have managed to get away with this scam, with almost no challenge, is a mystery.
What if Tesco’s et al, started charging customers when entering the store, claiming that the charge would help reduce the cost of their shopping?


.
This can't be compared with Tesco - people taking the train to airport won't be affected by this charge, therefore it is a mean to discourage car usage only.
 

londonteacher

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The drop off charge came into force today (1st Nov) and applies to all terminals, not just T5.

Fake justification - to help reduce the level of air pollution around Heathrow.
But - no exemption or reduction for EV’s or other zero emission vehicles and free drop off from ICE vehicles is provided for in the long stay car parks on the north side, inside the airport’s estate.

Fake justification - helps reduce airport costs that will otherwise, ultimately be passed on to passengers.
But - passengers or their family members or friends will still be paying through these charges.
Similarly, private hire taxis will pass on the charge to the passengers via the taxi fares.

How UK airports have managed to get away with this scam, with almost no challenge, is a mystery.
What if Tesco’s et al, started charging customers when entering the store, claiming that the charge would help reduce the cost of their shopping?


.
The thing is Heathrow can charge what ever they want for people to enter the airport. They don't have to justify it at all. Heathrow has lost money over the pandemic due to loss in traffic. Like any business they are trying to reclaim, but they are not stupid as they know they have a pretty captive customer base.
 
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The thing is Heathrow can charge what ever they want for people to enter the airport. They don't have to justify it at all. Heathrow has lost money over the pandemic due to loss in traffic. Like any business they are trying to reclaim, but they are not stupid as they know they have a pretty captive customer base.

That is all true of course, but this move to drop-off charging started many years at other airports before the pandemic, during relatively boom times for the industry. Heathrow was the last bastion holding out against it until being hit by the financial damage caused by the pandemic.
It hasn’t been mirrored at airports in other countries, nor at other locations where dropping off people commonly occurs, such as major railway stations.
 

Vespa

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To get round the drop off charges at locations you can get your friend or families to drop you off at the nearest bus or train station so you can make tge rest of the way or at the park and ride locations using their bus to get you there.
 

Ianno87

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Fake justification - to help reduce the level of air pollution around Heathrow.
But - no exemption or reduction for EV’s or other zero emission vehicles and free drop off from ICE vehicles is provided for in the long stay car parks on the north side, inside the airport’s estate.




.

Even if you are turning up in an EV, you are still adding to congestion of ICE vehicles.
 
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