CMA provisional determination in Heathrow appeals

RNS Update

CMA issues provisional determination in Heathrow Airport appeals

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has today published a summary of its provisional determination after Heathrow Airport and several airlines - British Airways, Delta Air Lines, and Virgin Atlantic Airways - appealed a decision from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which details how much the airport operator can charge airlines, per person, for using its services.

The CMA is the appeal body for pricing decisions taken by the CAA meaning those affected, such as airlines and airports, can challenge decisions directly to the CMA. The CMA's role is not to re-take the CAA decisions, but to decide whether the regulator has made specific types of error.

Having carefully considered the appeals from Heathrow and the airlines, the CMA provisionally considers that the CAA was not wrong in most of the decisions that were appealed to it.

Where the CMA has provisionally found that the CAA made errors in its decision, the CMA proposes to require the CAA to reconsider them.

Heathrow, the airlines, and the CAA now have the opportunity to respond to the CMA's provisional determination, and the CMA will reach its final determination by 17 October 2023.  

For more information on the appeals and provisional determination, visit the CMA's H7 Heathrow Airport Licence modification appeals web page.