bmi says BAA's new passenger charges will damage UK economy

bmi CEO, Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, has criticised (04-Nov-2010) BAA's 50% increase in charges levied against domestic passengers departing London Heathrow Airport. BAA plans to raise the domestic charge to be paid for each departing passenger by GBP7 from 01-Apr-2011 to bring it in line with charges paid by passengers departing for any EU country. This increase comes after the already announced increase by government in Air Passenger Duty. [more]

bmi: "We are outraged at this BAA plan to increase prices. These planned higher charges are unjustifiable when domestic passengers do not use the same facilities as international passengers. The charging structure from Heathrow is therefore favouring longhaul airlines and neglects the need of local British airlines serving the domestic markets. The new charges will not only lead to higher prices for domestic flights but also price travellers onto other forms of transport which, on some routes such as Heathrow-Belfast, is simply not feasible." Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, CEO. Source: bmi, 04-Nov-2010.