Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes in the rate of landing charges at Heathrow Airport on (a) passengers, (b) airlines and (c) the public purse.

The Airports Commission found that despite an increase in airport charges, fares paid by passengers could remain level or even fall due to the benefits of expansion.

In 2016 the Secretary of State set out his ambition for airlines and Heathrow to work together to develop solutions for expansion which keep airport charges close to current levels. In April 2018, the Civil Aviation Authority published their latest consultation on ‘the economic regulation of capacity expansion at Heathrow’ which concludes that ‘there are credible scenarios in which capacity expansion can be delivered affordably and financeably, with airport charges per passenger remaining close to current levels in real terms and line with the ambition expressed by the SoS on these matters in 2016’.

The Government has been clear that increases in airport capacity must be funded by the private sector.