The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has launched a formal investigation into the charging regime at London Heathrow Airport, following a complaint in January 2011 from British Midland International of discriminatory pricing against domestic flights.
The CAA said that, following preliminary investigations, it had decided to move to a formal inquiry, on the grounds that Heathrow Airport Limited's justification for the charges "need to be transparently and objectively substantiated".
It called for representations from any other airlines and interested parties by 6 September, adding that it hoped to publish a final ruling by the end of October.
A CAA spokesman said that if the complaint is upheld, it would not impose a financial sanction on the airport authorities, but could force them to change their charging structure.
Welcoming the CAA's announcement, a BMI spokeswoman said the airline maintained that the increase in domestic charges at London Heathrow "will unfairly and unreasonably discriminate against domestic passengers at the airport".
A spokeswoman for Heathrow's parent company, BAA, said: "We have received the request from the CAA for further information and we will be responding."
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
