Heathrow Airport will be permitted to increase charges to airlines so it can recover money spent on early planning and design work for its proposed third runway, BBC News reports.
The Civil Aviation Authority has said the airport may recoup up to £320m through higher per-passenger airport charges. The regulator said this is expected to raise the maximum charge by about 15p per passenger in 2028, increasing to an estimated 30p in later years.
The decision covers early runway-related costs for 2025 and 2026. The eventual effect of construction costs on ticket prices is not yet known.
A rival bidder, Arora Group’s Heathrow West, which proposed an alternative shorter runway design, will also be able to recover £4.1m in costs. Heathrow will be allowed to collect those costs, incurred up to November last year, through airport charges.
The CAA has already proposed that Heathrow’s airline fees should be capped at between £27.20 and £30.50 per passenger for 2027 to 2031. It said safeguards would include transparency and cost reporting requirements, as well as independent expert assurance.
Tim Johnson, the CAA’s director of consumers and markets, told the BBC the first tranche of costs, to support planning, could be recovered from passengers up to a maximum of £320m. He said the decision balanced progress on expansion with protection from undue cost increases.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said any additional costs passed on to travellers were “unwelcome” at a time when many people were struggling with travel costs. He said the increases would be added to airport charges that were already among the highest in the world.
A Heathrow spokesperson said a third runway would make travel more affordable, give passengers more choice and provide an economic boost across the country. The airport said it was considering the CAA proposals and would make investment decisions accordingly.
In November, the government said it preferred Heathrow’s £33bn runway scheme over Arora’s alternative. The Department for Transport said at the time that Heathrow’s proposal was the most deliverable and had the greatest likelihood of securing a planning decision within this parliament.
The government hopes for a planning decision by 2029. The third runway proposal has been debated for decades and has faced opposition from climate campaigners, local residents and politicians concerned about air pollution, noise and climate commitments.
