Flybe slams Gatwick hike

By Nigel Baudains

FLYING to Gatwick could be about to get more expensive.

Flybe is calling for owner BAA’s monopoly to be broken up following its decision to increase landing charges at the airport by 21.3%. ‘Unless airlines are prepared to swallow the increase, the cost will have to be passed to passengers,’ said Flybe chief commercial officer Mike Rutter.

‘But we are trying to avoid this by calling for what we consider to be a ludicrous decision to be reversed.’ Passing on the cost would mean a single fare going up by £2. Flybe also wants the UK Government to replace the Civil Aviation Authority as regulator after it sanctioned the price hike.

‘We see this as a tax to pay for something that should be paid for by the airport owner and in our view it is directly related to Ferrovial’s [BAA’s parent company] debt mountain,’ said Mr Rutter.

BAA owns seven major airports, including Southampton and Stansted as well as Gatwick.

‘In a marketplace where the airlines are exceptionally competitive, to award what are essentially monopolistic profits and a licence to print money to an unproductive and uncompetitive company is nothing short of a national disgrace,’ said Mr Rutter.

‘We always knew that the CAA cared little about the UK regions but this announcement proves it as it rewards BAA for years of failure and profligacy with a fat cat rise.

‘We call on the Competition Commission to break up BAA, an organisation now owned by a debt-ridden company that clearly has no interest in the well-being of the UK economy.

‘It is also time for [Secretary of State for Transport] Ruth Kelly to urgently review the position of the CAA in regulating aviation and to overturn the CAA ruling in the same way as it recently did at Stansted.’

BAA declined to comment on the matter.