MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Gibraltar complains MOD airport fees hike

United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence is considering a second increase to landing fees at Gibraltar airport, just weeks after it hiked the charges by 8.4%.

Joe Holliday, Gibraltar's Minister for Trade, Industry, Employment and Communications, told the House of Assembly that the move would have a "negative and detrimental" effect on GB Airways and Monarch, the two airlines currently serving the Rock.

Unless the MoD changes its decision, cost implications could potentially force some flights to move to cheaper Spanish airports such as Malaga, Mr Holliday said. Even if that does not happen, rising operating costs in Gibraltar will ultimately be passed on to passengers and will make it harder for the Gibraltar Government to attract new airline operators to the Rock.

Mr Holliday, responding to Opposition questions, would not disclose the size of the second increase planned by the MoD. Although the new increase has yet to be formalised, Mr Holliday said he believed it was "very much on the cards."

"The airlines will view this very negatively if there is another increase because they just can't sustain it," he told the House of Assembly. The Gibraltar Government had expressed concerns about the first increase as early as December last year in a letter to British Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram.

"The Government laid emphasis on the fact that the rates were already high especially when compared to other airports in the region such as Málaga, Jerez and Seville," Mr Holliday said.

But Mr Ingram wrote back in February to confirm the first increase and advise that a further rise was possible "in the near future." "He justified the reason for the increase as an attempt to narrow the gap that existed in covering the full cost to the MoD of handling commercial flights at Gibraltar," Mr Holliday said.

The MoD calculates that commercial flights add significantly ? and unnecessarily, from a military perspective - to the airfield's running costs every year.

It is those costs that the British government is seeking to reduce by raising landing fees, which at present range from £1228 to £1736 per flight for existing scheduled services depending on aircraft type.