UK air traffic control charges are set to rise to more than £2 per passenger, per flight under efforts to recover from the pandemic downturn in air travel.
The Civil Aviation Authority has proposed an increase in average costs by around 43p to £2.03.
The suggested new airline charges put forward for consultation by the aviation regulator covers five years from 2023.
The proposal would see Nats En-Route (Nerl) charges rise by 27% from £43 to £54 at 2020 prices.
However, the CAA insisted the charges should remain “broadly in line” with European counterparts.
The controls regulate the prices Nerl can charge airlines for the services it provides in UK airspace.
The regulator said: “In addition to providing for efficient operating costs, capital investment and regulated returns for the next five years, the regulator’s proposals would allow Nerl to begin to recover its costs from the period affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, consistent with the traffic risk sharing arrangements in Nerl’s licence at the time.
“This represents around £6 per service unit. The other factors that contribute to the increase in unit costs include lower forecast numbers of flights at the start of the NR23 period – the price controls for 2023 to 2027 calendar years.
“It is estimated the cost of these proposals would increase the average cost of UK en route air traffic services by around £0.43 on average, to around £2.03 per passenger per flight.”
Director of consumer and markets Paul Smith added: “Today’s announcement will incentivise Nerl to continue to put in place resources and investment required to deliver a resilient service while air travel numbers continue to recover following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In addition to managing price increases, these proposals include challenging service quality targets for delay and flight efficiency, designed to deliver positive outcomes for consumers.”
In response, Nats En-Route said: “We will be reviewing these initial proposals and will respond to the CAA within their consultation timescales, being no later than 13 December 2022.”