Heathrow users facing hike in ticket prices

Passengers using Heathrow face a rise in ticket prices under £3bn (€3.5bn) investment plans proposed today by bosses of the west London airport.

Heathrow wants regulators to approve a five-year plan which will see the fees it charges airlines to use the airport rise over the period 2014 to 2019.

If approved, the charges will increase from the equivalent of £19.33 (€22.84) per passenger for 2012/13 to as much as £27.30 (€32.26) for in 2018/19.

The charge is the equivalent of £20.78 (€24.56) per passenger for 2013/14 and Heathrow bosses want to be allowed to increase airline charges so that figure rises to £21.96 (€25.95) for 2014/15 with the annual figure rising each year up to 2018/19.

The charges, which need to be approved by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), will help pay for the £3bn (€3.5bn) of investment that Heathrow is planning.

This includes the opening of the new Terminal 2 next year, improved check-in and baggage facilities and more customer service training for staff.

Flight punctuality at Heathrow – the number of planes taking off or landing within 15 minutes of schedule – was only around 67% in 2007.

It has now gone up to 80% and Heathrow wants this figure to increase to 90% by the end of the decade.

The airport chiefs said today that while 4% of bags went missing in 2007, this figure is now down to 1.5%.