Says Higher Charges At Declining Facility Are Laughable

One of the big problems at airlines right now is difficulty getting passengers to pay higher ticket prices to offset rising fuel costs. At Monday's IATA meeting, Director General Giovanni Bisignani (right) seemed to vent some of that frustration in comments about Heathrow Airport in London, where he says has the UK's Civil Aviation Authority increased charges by 50 percent over the last five years, and plans another 86 percent increase for the next five.

The Daily Telegraph reports he joined politicians and business leaders in a chorus of criticism of declining service at London's main airport. "Service levels are a national embarrassment... Could anyone in this room ask for a fare increase of 86 percent? Nobody. That only happens in 'Monopoly-land.'"

Bisignani also called the CAA the world's worst regulator.

Heathrow is operated by BAA, which in turn is owned by Ferrovial, a Spanish company. Following the recent catastrophe at the airport's new Terminal 5, which saw 20-thousand bags lost and hundreds of flights cancelled, calls have increased for a breakup of BAA's monopoly on London's three major airports, and some have even demanded competition among individual terminals at Heathrow for airline business.

The CAA admits that airlines and their passengers deserve better service from BAA, and said the operator will pay fines for the April debacle at Heathrow, but issued a statement defending the increased airport charges.

"These airport charges are paying for the modernization of Heathrow in terms of both facilities and service, for the direct benefit of the passenger," the regulatory body said."

FMI: www.caa.co.uk/, www.baa.com