LONDON – British Manchester Airport’s passenger numbers over the past decade have jumped by a third giving it increased market power and this means that the airport could be regulated to make sure that it does not overcharge fees on airlines.
On Tuesday, the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said that it plans on commencing consultation to ascertain if Britain’s third-busiest airport has enough market power. The airport’s numbers of passengers jumped 33% in a decade to over 28 million in 2018.
The Manchester International Airport is owned by the local government and IFM Investors from Australia. It serves a variety of airliners flying to more than 200 destinations like American Airlines, Emirates, Etihad and Ryanair to name a few.
CAA received an assessment request from an unnamed “interested party”. Once such a request is received, any UK airport serving over 5 million passengers annually must oblige.
Manchester Airport has not been assessed in the past. It is the third-busiest airport in the country following Heathrow and Gatwick. If, post-assessment, the airport is found to have substantial market power, it needs a CAA economic licence to levy charges on airlines operating from the airport.
This move is aimed towards preventing airports from the exploitation of market power to levy fees hikes.
The market dominance test was done last time by CAA in 2011 and at the time, it took 3 years to ascertain that Heathrow and Gatwick were to be regulated but Manchester Airport Group-owned Stansed did not.
The CAA’s preparations are at a nascent stage and the testing shall begin in late 2020 after the information is gathered from the airport and interested parties.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.