Cities across Britain face losing their flights to Heathrow because of plans by BAA almost to double the fees for landing smaller aircraft at the airport.

Bmi, the second-biggest airline at Heathrow, has accused the Spanish-owned airport operator of exploiting its monopoly by trying to increase the number of long-haul flights at the expense of domestic services. BAA makes more profit from large aircraft because they each carry several hundred passengers who spend more at airport shops and on services.

Durham, Leeds, Newcastle and Manchester are among the cities that could lose some or all of their flights. Businesses in the regions rely heavily on their connections to Heathrow’s worldwide network of destinations.

The number of domestic airports with flights to Heathrow has already halved since 1990, from eighteen to nine, and will drop to eight when services from Inverness finish in March.

Amsterdam and Paris are now much better connected to British regional cities than Heathrow is. Heathrow’s two runways operate at 98.5 per cent capacity, compared with 74 per cent capacity on the four runways at Charles de Gaulle in Paris.

The Government is proposing to abolish some of the noise abatement rules to allow an increase of 15 per cent in the number of flights on the existing Heathrow runways from 2010. But ministers have refused to give a guarantee that any of the extra capacity would be reserved for domestic flights. The removal of limits on services to the US, India and other countries is also allowing airlines to use their Heathrow runway slots for more lucrative international flights.

Nigel Turner, chief executive of bmi, said that BAA’s charges for short-haul aircraft could rise by up to 85 per cent. This would hit the short-haul links to Heathrow, which he said BAA acknowledged were vital to the airport’s future.

“Only a monopoly provider with inadequate regulation could get away with increases of this magnitude. Airports in Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt will be celebrating if these increases go ahead. This cannot be in the interests of UK plc and the aviation industry. Once broken, the regional links will not easily be restored.”

Frank Cook, the Labour MP for Stockton North, has urged the Government to intervene to protect flights between Durham Tees Valley airport and Heathrow. He said: “The link to Heathrow and the international air transport network is vital, especially in attracting jobs and investment and enabling our local businesses to compete in the global marketplace.”

A spokesman for Newcastle airport said: “We have half a million passengers a year on the Heathrow flights and it would be catastrophic for us and the regional economy to lose them.”

Under BAA’s proposal, the current system of charging airlines according to the weight of aircraft would change to a “per movement charge” irrespective of aircraft size. This would result in airlines operating smaller aircraft, with as few as 50 seats, paying much more per passenger than long-haul operators flying 400-seat jumbo jets.

The Civil Aviation Authority said that it was unable to intervene because it had no jurisdiction over the element of the charge which BAA is seeking to change.

A BAA spokesman said: “We are currently in negotiations with all of our airlines around charges and we have tabled a proposal in an attempt to accommodate bmi’s concerns.”

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