Norwich Airport passenger fee to double
27.09.11
Passengers face higher charges to fly out of Norwich under plans to double the airport’s departure tax, the EDP reports. The airport development fee, first introduced in 2007, will increase from £5 to £10 in January 2012, but there will no longer be a charge for children aged under 16. Airport bosses have said the increase is needed to safeguard the future of the airport.
Norwich is one of just four airports in the country which charges a development fee with Blackpool, Durham Tees Valley and Newquay also charging passengers a fee in addition to the cost of their flights to use the airport. It was first introduced to help fund an £18m expansion plan, and has since contributed to more than £14m to the airport.
The airport development fee, which originally cost £3 when it was came into force in April 2007, currently accounts for eight per cent of the airport’s revenue and brings in just under £700,000 a year. With the price increase on January 3, this will double to close to £1.4m, assuming passenger numbers do not fall.
Airport chief executive Andrew Bell told the newspaper: ‘It is clear that if we are going to grow as a regional airport, we need to be more entrepreneurial and £10 is the fee it needs to be. What it means looking forward is that we have got the best chance of keeping the routes we have, getting more routes and continuing to make the capital investments required at the airport.'
‘When people look at booking a flight, they look at where they can fly from and the price. We know that two million people can’t fly from Norwich because the flight isn’t there. If we can show airlines that we are sustainable then we can offer them more entrepreneurial deals and everyone wins - the airline gets what they want and the passengers get what they want because the flights are here and they can fly from here.’
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