Transparent airport charges could reduce Heathrow pressure

10.25.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 15th Jan 2008

Sarah campaigning against a third runway at Heathrow with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver

The European Parliament is set to adopt new EU rules which would require airport charges for airlines and retailers to be more transparent.

London Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford believes that such a move is essential in order to avoid the distortion in British Airports Authority charges which currently make Heathrow and Gatwick artificially cheap for airlines and suck in non-Londoner traffic.

Speaking from the European Parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg, Sarah said:

"The new directive must include a requirement of publicity for whether airports separate out charges for airlines and retailers. We need to know if airlines are subsidised by a 'single till' system of pooling shop and airline fees, which gives an incentive to airport expansion like at Heathrow at the cost of local residents."

"Liberal Democrats call for an end to the distortions of the single till system so that landing charges are set at economic levels. Only by openness about the way in which airports make their profits can we prevent London's airports becoming huge shopping malls to bankroll cheap tarmac for planes."

"No wonder the Brown government is opposing this transparency demand. They are quite happy, as they push for the Third Runway, to preserve the distortions which make it look 'necessary'."