Gatwick charges

Flybe and its customers have lost out following a decision by the CAA regarding Gatwick Airport’s (GAL) aircraft charges.

In April 2011 Gatwick’s summer landing charges were increased by 62.5%, while the winter fees were reduced to zero.  Other costs were kept at the same level.  As such, the entire rise allowed under the CAA’s price cap for Gatwick was loaded on to summer landing charges.

Flybe’s complaint, made under section 41 of the Airports Act 1986, was that structuring charges in this manner unreasonably discriminated against it and other operators of small aircraft at Gatwick.

The CAA has found that although the changed charges discriminate against airlines using small aircraft, the discrimination was not unreasonable, because Gatwick’s objective of increasing the efficient use of its single runway in re-structuring its charges, justified the decision to make the changes.

The decision document sets out that while the CAA believes that some passengers may be harmed by GAL’s changes to its charging structure, the numbers involved are likely to be small and the adverse effects would be balanced by benefits to other passengers.  The CAA’s full decision document can be seen here. http://www.caa.co.uk

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