With an accumulated debt of £15billion , London's Heathrow Airport may force it's "foreign shareholders" to fund a cash injection , as it's yet to come out of the Pandemic Downfall.
Heathrow is looking into options including this , due to CAA's last month Final Proposals for the H7 price control period which runs from January 2022 - December 2026.
Story you may find useful...
On 28th June , reacting to CAA's Final Proposals for the H7 price control period , Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye had said ,
“As the industry rebuilds, our focus is to work alongside airlines and their ground handlers to give passengers a reliable and consistent journey through Heathrow."
"The CAA continues to underestimate what it takes to deliver a good passenger service, both in terms of the level of investment and operating costs required and the fair incentive needed for private investors to finance it."
"Uncorrected, these elements of the CAA’s proposal will only result in passengers getting a worse experience at Heathrow as investment in service dries up."
Heathrow says , it's following the Global market ,
Airports around the world are increasing their prices in the aftermath of the pandemic. While airlines often point to more limited price increases at continental airports like Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris – they fail to mention that these airports received billions of pounds in state aid during COVID while Heathrow received virtually none.
The Final proposal wanted the average fees per passenger to fall gradually from £30.19 to £26.31 by 2026, which Heathrow sees as an additional burden amid forecast for another year of losses.
However, the CAA had confirmed that the 2022 charge will remain unchanged at £30.19 and fall by the Consumer Prices Index minus 5.74% in each subsequent year through to December 2026.
Heathrow plans to invest a further £4bn in the service standard as per passenger expectations , without adding to ticket prices, but compared to it's CAA regulated fees and prices with that of the Carrier's it serves.
While Heathrow’s prices remain controlled by the CAA, unregulated airlines have been able to benefit from the capacity constraints at the airport to generate £25bn in extra airfares since 2012.
Now, while Heathrow is engaging it's customers and airlines for the ongoing fees dispute, it may soon ask it's major investors "Ferrovial" - the Spanish infra firm and the "Qatar Investment Authority" for some injections , without which UK's Largest Airport will struggle to survive.
Picture : Heathrow Airport.
