BAA 'committed to Britain's airports'

Airports operator BAA has said that it is committed to improving Britain's air hubs.

Airports operator BAA has emphasised its commitment to making its British hubs "world class", but questioned the Civil Aviation Authority's (CAA) understanding of the inherent challenges of the aviation market, following the regulator's latest price proposals.

The CAA this week recommended that airlines be charged £11.97 per passenger to use Heathrow in 2008-09, a 15.6 per cent rise from current levels, and £6.07 to land at Gatwick, an 8.2 per cent increase.

While the regulator said that such rises would be "significant", BAA said that the challenge of transforming passengers' daily experiences and the "security reality" of modern travel had not been fully recognised.

"BAA's priorities are to improve the service we offer our passengers on a daily basis and to transform Britain's airports to make them truly world class," the airport operator said in a statement.

"But the reason our airports have not been transformed as they should have been is a sustained lack of investment resulting in part from a series of long planning delays. BAA is determined to make that investment, but we do not believe these proposals yet recognise the scale of what is required and the risk involved."

BAA acknowledged that the CAA is embarking on a consultation period and said that it will use this period to "make [its] concerns known".

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