Passengers have to shell out extra money for air tickets, it was announced. The rise in prices is attributed to aircraft landing charges at Heathrow and Gatwick airports in London by BAA.

The actual increase in ticket price is not steep at £2 but what looks scary is that the charges could increase by 23.5% this year at Heathrow while at Gatwick, it’s estimated to be at 21%. The approval for the rise in charges was approved the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to facilitate improvements at the airports it manages.

BAA statement read – “The review does not recognise sufficiently: the scale of the task we are embarked on; the pressures of handling such large infrastructure projects; the full cost of the increased security requirements; as well as the impact of the credit market turmoil…”

British Airways doesn’t seem to be too happy with the increase, as expected. It has blatantly blamed BAA owner Ferrovial’s high debt levels as the sole reason.