BAA warning over rise in air passenger duties

The boss of Heathrow-owner BAA blasted another warning at the Government to avoid raising the controversial air passenger duties in this month's Budget today.

The charges - which are expected to raise £2.2 billion for the Exchequer this year - have risen three times in as many years, leaving Britons with by far the highest flight taxes in Europe.

Chief executive Colin Matthews said: "We remain concerned that increases in APD will affect the relative competitiveness of UK aviation and damage the UK's international trading position."

BAA also said that last month, Heathrow served 4.62 million passengers, up 0.5% on the previous year. But numbers at Stansted were down 6.3%, and overall, BAA's traffic - including its three Scottish airports - fell 0.2% to 7.1 million in February.

BAA - owned by Spain's Ferrovial - said traffic to the Middle East was only "moderately" hit by unrest in the region.

Matthews' work at the airports operator was rewarded with a £151,000 pay rise last year, when Heathrow was bought to a standstill by massive snowfall. His salary rose to £971,000 last year.

Elsewhere, Gatwick said its passenger numbers rose 2.3% in February, driven by increases in European scheduled traffic, with an extra 46,600 passengers travelling through the airport.