Former BA boss slams Heathrow’s ‘outrageous’ £100 price hikes
Former British Airways boss Willie Walsh has criticised Heathrow’s plans to hike landing fees by 90 percent.
The move could cost families travelling through Heathrow nearly £100 more for their flights.
Walsh called the proposals ‘outrageous’.
He said, “Heathrow must understand that gouging its customers is not the road to recovery, for itself, the airlines, travel and tourism jobs, or travellers.”
Walsh is currently in charge of the International Air Transport Association trade body.
He argued that the government should “get serious” in making shareholders “share the pain” of rising costs from the pandemic rather than passengers.
Walsh believed that shareholders should be reducing dividends and efficiency savings instead of burdening passengers with higher prices.
He said: “Only a monopoly could behave like this.”
Heathrow wants to increase the charges airlines pay to use the airport next January from £19.36 to £37.63.
As airlines add these costs to the price of tickets, a family of five would have to pay an additional £100 for flights from Heathrow.
The proposal is being weighed up by regulators, the Civil Aviation Authority, who will make their decision in the coming days.