Heathrow Airport prunes airport charge by 50 percent for UK fliers

January 2, 2018: As part of its New Year bonanza, Heathrow Airport has decided to offer mega discount for UK fliers by trimming down its existing airport charges by 50 percent.

With this move, UK fliers are set to save even more when flying from Heathrow as the airport announced a 50 percent increase in the discount for domestic flights.

Beginning January 1, passengers flying to any UK destination from Heathrow Airport will have a 15 discount on the airport charges they pay-the biggest discount in the airport's history which is expected to result in savings nearly 40 million annually and over 750 million over the next 20 years.

Heathrow Airport has been a long-time and ardent campaigner for boosting domestic flights at the UK's hub, and last year it committed to keep a discounted domestic passenger charge for at least next twenty years as long as it's in the public interest.

The further reduction in the domestic passenger charge will save passengers even more money while making domestic routes more commercially viable for airlines-encouraging them to add more domestic services.

Heathrow is the UK's global gateway and largest port, ensuring communities across Britain have convenient, reliable access to the hub is critical for connecting exporters with customers around the world and attracting inward tourism and investment.

The domestic discount is one plank in a package of measures Heathrow Airport is implementing to support more flights to UK destinations-ultimately increasing the airport's domestic connections from eight to 14 while the airport expands in 2025.

Other measures include creating a 10m fund to provide start-up capital for five new domestic routes, urging the government to use new powers after leaving the EU to ring-fence slots at the airport solely for domestic flights and campaigning for the abolition of air passenger duty on domestic flights to save UK passengers up to 225m annually.

John Holland-Kaye, CEO of Heathrow said, “Every corner of our country should be able to benefit from the growth and trade that stems from links to the nation's hub airport - that's why Heathrow is making it cheaper to fly within the UK by reducing our domestic passenger charges even further for the second consecutive year. Putting nearly 40 million back into the pockets of British families and businesses each year will help to spur growth in every part of the UK.”

Heathrow's UK destinations currently include Aberdeen, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Leeds Bradford, Manchester and Newcastle. Airlines like easyJet and Flybe have already expressed interest in connecting many new cities to Heathrow, including Liverpool, Dundee and Newquay to Heathrow.