BAA shuffles jet charges in attempt to go greener
Airports operator BAA today announced radical plans to encourage carriers to fly only their cleanest, quietest jets into Heathrow.
In the biggest change to the London airport's pricing for a decade, BAA will raise its minimum departure fee for airlines from £220 to £1000 in a bid to encourage carriers to fly fuller planes.
The group has also tinkered with its landing fees so airlines with older aircraft pay higher fares than those with the new "greener" jets like the Airbus A380 and the upcoming Boeing 787.
The impact on noise and emissions depends on how many airlines react to the changes: it hopes most carriers will use the new planes in their fleet for Heathrow routes rather than other hubs.
BAA is also offering a 25% discount on transfer charges for passengers who arrive and depart from Heathrow within 24 hours, in a bid to take on rivals and spur airlines to open new long-haul routes.
Since the airport is already operating at full capacity, encouraging carriers to use their existing slots to fly in fuller planes with more passengers would mean higher spend at the airport, with more tourists and executives able to travel to London. But, since some aircraft fees will rise while others fall, BAA's revenues from airline levies — around £1.04 billion a year — will remain about the same.
BAA commercial director John Holland-Kaye said the group was following the demands of Londoners by "making Heathrow better without being bigger" after the failure of the bid for a third runway. He added: "By encouraging airlines to fly their newest planes to Heathrow, we'll much become more noise and fuel efficient, while cutting transfer charges will mean it's economic for airlines to give the airport access to new markets like Lima and Jakarta."
John Stewart of the Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise, said "We would support these charges — it makes sense for planes to be as full as they can, and it's to benefit for those under the flight path to have less noisy jets."
