Ahead of tomorrow’s publication of the CAA’s consultation on proposals for changes to the regulatory regime and landing charges at the three regulated airports of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, Simon Buck, Chief Executive of the British Air Transport Association (BATA), said:

“No-one questions that Heathrow Airport continues to have substantial monopoly power and therefore requires tight economic regulation.  We are therefore pleased that the CAA has previously tentatively rejected the arguments that Gatwick and Stansted do not have such power and therefore expect continued regulation to protect the interests of users.  Deregulation, as favoured by both airports, will inevitably lead to poorer service and higher fares, not lower fares as Gatwick has misleadingly claimed.

“We call on the CAA to robustly protect the interests of the consumer by retaining the economic regulation of Gatwick, Stansted and Heathrow airports and using its regulatory powers to ensure there is a real term reduction in airport charges applied during the next regulatory period.

“BATA supports improving the passenger experience at Heathrow. However, we believe this can be done without a repeat of the incredibly steep price rises we have seen in airport charges in the last few years. The previous two review periods have seen the CAA disregard the interests of users and favour those of airport shareholders, with disastrous results.  This has to change.