Heathrow cuts passenger charges on domestic trips by £10

Heathrow cuts passenger charges on domestic trips by £10

• Heathrow fulfils pledge to families and businesses across Britain by cutting domestic passenger charges by over a third – resulting in over a £500m saving
• The discount is a key part of Heathrow’s plan to encourage growth outside London by making it cheaper to travel beyond the capital and is scheduled to last up to twenty years
• Airlines already responding to the new discounted charges with Flybe launching new domestic routes in March

LONDON, 2017-Jan-04 — /Travel PR News/ — Domestic passengers flying from Heathrow are in line for over a £500 million windfall over the next 20 years after Heathrow cut passenger charges on domestic trips by £10 – the largest discount to its charges the airport has ever made.

The new domestic charge of £19.10/passenger is over a third cheaper than 2016 and fulfils a key pledge Heathrow made in its expansion manifesto to make the UK’s hub airport work harder for families in every corner of Britain. Heathrow proposes that the discount lasts through to 2037, as long as it is in the public interest and there is a justification.

Efforts to rebalance growth across the UK will also get a boost from the new £10 discount which will make travel beyond London to the rest of the UK cheaper for more inbound tourists and investors.

Airlines are already responding to Heathrow’s cheaper domestic charges and from March, Flybe will start operations from Heathrow for the first time. Europe’s largest regional airline will add 40 new weekly flights to Edinburgh and Aberdeen in a move that will increase competition and choice for UK families and businesses. Heathrow’s move to discount domestic charges has the added benefit of reducing pressure on airlines operating existing domestic services by making their routes more commercially attractive.

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said:

“Earlier this year Heathrow promised to do more to help Britain’s economy grow stronger. This morning I’m delighted that we’re able to come good on that promise with our new £10 domestic discount. Putting over £500 million back into the pockets of British families and businesses will help to spur growth in every part of the UK.”

Notes to Editors:

Research by independent economic consultancy Frontier has revealed the total savings for passengers as a result of the domestic routes discount from 2017 – 2037. The table below outlines those findings and the full research is available in the downloads section of the Heathrow Media Centre:

* = In September 2016, Heathrow announced a comprehensive plan to get UK regions connected to growth quicker and to give all of Britain a ‘Brexit boost’. This plan included proposals for up to 25,000 more annual air traffic movements from 2021 before a new runway is operational. easyJet and Flybe have already expressed interest in using the additional capacity to serve additional domestic destinations – including Newquay, Liverpool and Dundee.

£10 discount

From 1st January 2017, Heathrow is introducing a discount of £10 per passenger to domestic passenger charges to support affordable domestic routes. Heathrow proposes that, with expansion and as long as there remains a justification for the discount, the discount could continue for the next 20 years or as long as it is deemed to be in the public interest. Once consulted on and if approved, this could extend the current discount which started on 1st January 2017 to January 2037.

Contact:

Email: media_centre@heathrow.com
Telephone: +44 (0)20 8745 7224

Source: Heathrow

###