Heathrow Airport: Travelators (Hansard, 27 June 2003)

§ Lord Davies of Oldham

The performance of travelators at Heathrow is primarily a matter for the management of the airport. However, following an adverse finding on the relationship between price and service quality at Heathrow Airport by the Competition Commission when it reviewed the BAA London airports in 2002, the Civil Aviation Authority, as airport economic regulator, imposed a condition in the airports' permission to levy charges that requires the airport to pay rebates to airlines from summer 2003 if specified standards for a number of services, including travelators, are not met. The standard for travelators is that in each month they should be available for 98 per cent of the time during the core period of the day from 05:00 to 23:00. It is open to airports and airlines locally to consider whether this or any other standard is appropriate and to apply to the Civil Aviation Authority for a variation to ensure that service standards best meet needs at individual locations.