Gatwick ‘is trying to price us out’
Wednesday 9th February 2011, 11:30AM GMT.
Gatwick Airport
GATWICK is trying to force regional airlines out of the airport by imposing ‘huge’ landing fee increases, Aurigny has claimed.
Fares are set to rise because of the move, as airlines attempt to recoup some of the cost from passengers.
Aurigny’s take on Gatwick’s motives was backed up yesterday by industry sources, which suggested increases levied by the airport for smaller airlines were far greater than hikes for big operators.
One source said a big airline was facing a 4.9% increase, whereas airlines of Aurigny’s size were being charged up to 25% more.
Aurigny managing director Malcolm Hart said the airline would, from 1 April, have to pay an additional £400,000 a year.
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All Gatwick care about is how much money they can earn from a flight, so I guess small planes still take as much space on the runway and Gatwick don’t want this…Shouldn’t the airports be owned by the government? there are certain things which money grabbing businessmen should not have control of such as the Airports and Healthcare.
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Perhaps………. Mr.Coates will buy Gatwick Airport and save the day !!!!
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Adam, Can you imagine the mess a government would
make trying to run an airport? modern passenger handling facilities do not fit small aircraft. Best team up with Jersey and run a Jumbo once a week to Heathrow
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Should be equally priced across the whole range of aircraft.
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Adam – I’m not sure that Gatwick being owned by the UK government would necessarily make any difference.
Who’s to say that they wouldn’t try the same trick to force regional flights out of Gatwick to a smaller airport like Stansted for example?
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Has this come about because BAA were foced to sell Gatwick, and the new operator is forcing additional charges onto airlines to pay for the changes they have made to Gatwick?
This is poor show Gatwick.
Take the hit from your profits do not expect to maintain profits and pay for upgrades and charge because of the snow, that is operational costs/risks.
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I wonder if the Gatwick bosses appreciate that Aurigny’s Gatwick connection is great for connecting British Airways flights and that if I have to use Heathrow or another airport, BA will lose out to a more convenient airline. My Aurigny connexion will dictate the which airline I use to get to London
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The UK Government (Liebore I think) did own BAA and sold the airports to a Spanish company – brilliant foresight there then – anybody would think they were trained by our Commerce Department – who by the way have already voiced opinions that perhaps Harbours and Airports should be commercialised!
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Do we need to think differently?
Is City airport the right gateway?
Do the States buy land and develop it into an airport in London?
Is a seaplane service to the Thames the way forward?
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Actually I think London City would be a cool alternative and much easier and smaller to go through than Gatwick. And connections from there are much better than they used to be.
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London City could well be the way forward. I wonder if Aurigny has considered this alternative?
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@Hugo – BAA was privatised by Thatcher – then sold by it’s shareholders to Ferrovial in 2006 – they then in turn sold Gatwick in 2009. So one thing NuLab did not muck up….
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Gatwick is extrememly convenient for those of us coming home to Guernsey from North America.
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Indeed… why does it have to be Gatwick? Isn’t it perhaps just a case of “We use Gatwick because we’ve always used Gatwick”? Gatwick isn’t exactly convenient for Central London. Gatwick isn’t terribly good for onward flight connections – lots of holiday charters, but only a relatively small number of scheduled carriers.
Perhaps Aurigny should do some research to find out which London airport would best suit their customers’ needs (I appreciate LHR is not an option!). Maybe somewhere like LCY would indeed be a better choice – it would be convenient for Central London, it would be more convenient than LGW for onward connections from LHR and STN, and it is geared up to dealing with smaller aircraft. (And it’s a much nicer airport too!)
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Time and time again I say think about London City Airport.
Much easier airport to fly through with better connections to most of Europe and much more convenient cheaper for getting into London.
Spend less on extending the runway – the current aircraft in use do not need the full extent of Guernsey’s runway – and spend more on developing new routes and on marketing Guernsey as a whole.
I also ask why Flybe and Aurigny have to duplicate services ? Both have flights to Gatwick and always at the same times !
Sell Aurigny to the Lufthansa group and Aurigny would profit from the wide availability of connecting flights that that network offers, which much better prices.
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Hi all,
Does anyone know how many flights a day go to Gatwick from the ilse of Guern?
Based on an airline running five flights a day (I’m sure it’s probably more) to gatwick with total seats averaging at 70 per flight, this additional cost amounts to £3 per person per return.
Now what will be really interesting is how much extra the airlines decide to charge. Watch this space…
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The extra cost is £2.00 per person, landing only. No extra for take off.As announced on TV yesterday.
So what is all the fuss about?
The email I received from Aurigny was worded as if the end of the world was nigh.
It is all a complete over-reaction.
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Storm in a teacup
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It may be only £2 per person per landing but is this the thin end of a much bigger stick to wedge our carriers out of Gatwick?
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Maybe the increase is a plan to slow P B Falla`s exodus?.
What we gonna do now PB? where are you when we need you?
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bcb – perhaps he’s already left :(
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I believe that both Auringy and Blue Islands have looked into operating out of London City. Unfortunately, the high costs there make it very difficult to operate sustainably. VLM dropped the London City route because it was not economically viable. A triangular route may work- but this negates any time savings by avoiding gatwick!
Sure, CIty make be more central and more connected with the London Docklands railway, but Gatwick is much better connected, and positioned to get to Heathrow. People wouldn’t want to haul all their luggage across the tube!
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“GATWICK is trying to force regional airlines out of the airport”…. I doubt that very, very much. That would be like saying “HMV are trying to deter people from buying CDs”. Tripe.
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My thoughts exactly Andy. I did a quick check and found out it would take just over an hour to get from City to Gatwick / Heathrow. Problem is this involved about 3 different changes.
Compare that to Gatwick, where there are decent international connections and reaching Heathrow is one bus journey away.
City is better for people who actually want to visit London or connect to Europe (or New York) – but that’s about it.
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FlyingScot – yes you were right – BAA was privatised in 1987 in the final days of the Tory Government when the lunatics were running the Asylum – vide Rail Privatisation and the “benefits” that have accrued to passengers from that!
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Interested is right – a storm in a teacup. A couple of quid extra to fly to Gatwick will not deter anyone. Gatwick is a great hub for onward flights and getting better, plus central London is an east train ride away. There are no useful alternatives as Heathrow has no slots available, Stansted is losing destinations, City is only of any real use if you’re going to the city itself and Luton and Southend might call themselves ‘London’ but they’re not in the running. If we all have to pay a little bit extra then it’s worth it. If the airlines can successfully fight it then good for them as it’s good for us. If the charges do go up they will have to be passed on so watch out for who charges what, Aurigny are always transparent, flybe not.
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@Truthman that is not at all true… Gatwick wants to push carriers using smaller aircraft (ie. under 100 seats) out with higher costs. They have not denied this. Why would they want an ATR72 taking a landing slot when they could have a 747/A380??? That is why they are trying to push users of the ATR and Dash 8 out.
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Hugo,
Rather short sighted to just blame privatisation – British Rail in particular was a political “football”, blighted by the union mentality and underinvestment – the issue was not privatisation, but rather the manner in which it was done. The big 4 certainly managed the railways better than BR so your point is somewhat diluted…
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London City, wonderful little airport. Unfortunately all the peak time slots have long gone,it is horrendously expensive to land and if your aeroplane happens to break down and you cant fly it out, you may find yourself, as one operator did, ferrying it out on a barge as you can not carry out any major repairs at the airport.
Gatwick are trying to get rid of small regional aircraft for simple the reason, they make thier money on throughput of passengers. More passengers, more money spent in retail outlets caf’s etc, more profit for shops more revenue for airport operators as they can charge more rent. So it becomes less about the number of aircraft more the size. More passengers per slot, more profit for airport shareholders. Not much like HMV or is it, its all about turnover.
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The concept that Gatwick is trying to push small aircraft out is not actually true. These days airports rely more and more on income from retail outlets, which is why major airport departure lounges now seem like shopping malls. Gatwick had a second runway planned, but the new government in the UK has decided that no new runways will be built in the UK, so pressure is on the airports to maximise income with the existing number of slots. As smaller aircraft hold less passengers, the proportion of income generated by those aircraft from retail sources is less and has to be balanced out by relatively higher landing charges. That way the airport maintains it’s income levels and whilst the idea of passengers on smaller aircraft paying more is seems unfair, it’s simply a business necessity and as previously mentioned will amount to a very small sum per passenger. As such it is still worth paying to use Gatwick and it is also worth remembering that the Civil Aviation Authority does have the power to investigate if charges are unreasonable and cap them accordingly.
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Ed:
Not trying to push them out, just trying to make them more profitable to the company.
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London-Southend Airport is currently expanding greatly and at present lengthening their Runway, an opportunity not to be missed for Channel Island routes. Much cheaper fees and direct Rail Route to London (50 Mins).
No different from Gatwick but a lot cheaper.
Aurigny don’t miss out ! Flybe are already running a Southend – Jersey weekly flight, Aer Arran have just started routes and Easy Jet strong rumour to be starting before Olympics.whatch this space.
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