Higher air ticket fees put regional flights at risk
Published: 15/05/08
BAA are risking putting an end to regional flights to London Heathrow from cities around the UK, by almost doubling the fees for smaller aircrafts to land at the airport.
BAA make more of a profit on larger aircrafts that fly to long haul destinations because they aircrafts can carry several hundred passengers who are more likely to spend more time in the airport terminals and spend more money in the airport shops, whereas people flying into London Heathrow on the small regional flights only have to be at the airport, in some cases 45 minutes before the board the aircraft and most choose not to spend at the airport because they don’t need to.
BAA has been accused by Bmi of trying to exploit its monopoly by putting the fees up for the small regional flights to inject cash into increasing the large long haul flights.