EasyJet fighting Gatwick's 'rip-off' fees

Travellers using Gatwick are being ripped off, the biggest airline at London's second airport warned today.

The budget airline easyJet was told today its application has been rejected for a judicial review of the 50% increase in take-off and landing fees at Gatwick.

The carrier, which has said it will appeal the ruling, argued that the Civil Aviation Authority acted unlawfully in granting the rise in fees to Gatwick's operator, the Spanish-owned company BAA

The CAA was accused of secretly and unfairly reopening an inquiry into whether BAA could raise its airline charges to £1.3 billion through to 2013 to take account of rising security costs.

Such charges are routinely passed on by airlines in higher air fares.

BAA has said it needs the cash to give it a chance of avoiding a new system of fines for not getting passengers through security controls within 10 minutes.

"Passengers must be protected with strong airport regulation," said easyJet in a statement.

"If a 50% increase in charges without any discernible increase in capacity is permitted at a regulated airport, what would happen if the price caps [preventing airports from charging what they want] were to be removed?

"Secondly, it highlights the problem of concentrating so much power and discretion in a single regulator without the meaningful rights of appeal for airlines. How else are passengers' interests to be protected?"

The ruling came as BAA admitted today it will make £73 million more in profits than expected from Gatwick this year because it has so far failed to sell the business as instructed by the Competition Commission.

NATS, the part-privatised air traffic controller, said it made profits of £135 million last year of which £43 million is to be paid to the taxpayer and its seven shareholding airlines in dividends.