Airport Charges

BAR UK actively participates in representing airline interests in charges consultations at the two regulated airports in the UK. Heathrow is fully regulated and Gatwick has a lighter regulation based upon commercial agreements. BAR UK sits on the LACC executive for Heathrow charges. Strong industry submissions to the CAA resulted in an unprecedented result with Heathrow charges being capped at the UK Retail Price Index (RPI) minus 1.5% for the period 01 April 2014 to 31 December 2020. This was far below the increase of over 4% being sought by the airport operator and has saved airlines millions of pounds.

Future work is centred on the significant cost challenges post pandemic whereby Heathrow are seeking increases for the H7 regulatory period exceeding 90%. An intense regulatory engagement period is underway in 2022.