Heathrow Getting More Expensive! - Russian Ukrainian Belarus Travel Music Woman Dating News

	The Russian Meeting Place: A place to meet people and talk about all things Russian... International Discussions about Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Travel, Music, Russian News, Ukrainian culture, Belarusian Dating, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kiev and other intelligent topics about life in the former Soviet Union.

Pages: 1

Heathrow Getting More Expensive!
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: Raspberry

As if there wasn't enough to insult passengers, by having the UK increase fees, having more restrictions, and the place being a mess, Heathrow is planning to increase their own fees. (Unlike the previous departure tax increase....this only affects Heathrow, and NOT Gatwick, Manchester, etc.)

London's crowded Heathrow Airport will be allowed to raise airline charges by a bigger-than-expected 23.5 percent, giving a boost to the airport's indebted owner but sparking fury among its users.

Shares in Spanish construction group Ferrovial, which bought Heathrow owner BAA in a GBP10 billion pound (USD$20 billion) deal in 2006, rose 8.8 percent after BAA said on Tuesday the new charges should help it to complete a much-delayed refinancing of its debts by the end of June.

But Heathrow users such as British Airways reacted angrily to the price controls from regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which were more generous to Ferrovial than its previous proposals in November.

"These overly generous charges far exceed what is required to upgrade facilities across Heathrow," British Airways said in a statement.

"The CAA must hold BAA to account throughout the five year period to ensure the airport operator delivers improvements and does not divert funds to pay off Ferrovial's debts."

As well as struggling to refinance its debt amid the global credit market turmoil, Ferrovial has come under fire for service levels at Heathrow, where delays and lost baggage have become commonplace.

The CAA said Heathrow would be allowed to charge GBP12.8 (USD$25.7) per passenger in the year starting April 1, and increase this by no more than retail price inflation plus 7.5 percent in the subsequent four years.

The regulator had proposed a price cap of GBP11.97 in November, but said it was increasing this to take account of the need for additional investment and security.

The CAA set a price cap of GBP6.79 per passenger for London's Gatwick Airport, which is also run by BAA, up from its previous proposal of GBP6.07.

BAA said the rise in charges was still not enough.

"The (CAA) review does not recognize sufficiently... the scale of the task we are embarked on," it said in a statement.

Nonetheless, BAA said the new charges would allow it to finalize its refinancing plans.

It plans to implement the refinancing by the end of the second quarter, and said it would include a migration of existing bondholders into an investment-grade, ring-fenced structure backed by its three London airports and the Heathrow Express rail service.

(Reuters)