AIRLINES face a sharp increase in charges at airports across Europe as these seek to fund a $100 billion (£56.8 billion) ten-year investment programme in new runways and terminals.

Air travel in Europe is set to double by 2020 to two billion passengers a year, according to an industry study. The number of airports experiencing severe congestion at peak times will double to 60, even with a 60 per cent increase in capacity. The study by Eurocontrol, which manages Europe’s upper airspace, found that 20 airports, including Heathrow, Amsterdam, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt and Madrid, “will be saturated for at least eight to ten hours a day”.

Many airports that face environmental restrictions on new runways are expected to follow BAA’s example by investing instead in new terminals capable of handling larger aircraft. BAA is spending £4.2 billion on Heathrow’s Terminal 5, which will cater for the 600-seat Airbus A380. The study said that there would be “strong pressure to accelerate a switchover to larger aircraft” to allow more passengers to be handled with the same number of runway slots.

Eurocontrol said that airports could also squeeze 20 to 30 per cent more flights on to existing runways by making modest investments in new taxiways and runway exits.

Airports Council International Europe, the airport operators’ association, said that the “capacity crunch” was so serious that decisions on major investment could not be delayed.

GROUNDED

European airports with the longest delays per delayed flight in 2005

1. Milan Linate 41.6 minutes

2. Paris Le Bourget 37.1 minutes

3. Rome Ciampino 32.5 minutes

4. Amsterdam Schiphol 31.6 minutes

5. Cannes 26.8 minutes

6. Paris Orly 26.7 minutes

7. Manchester 26.7 minutes

8. Verona Villafranca 26.6 minutes

9. Brussels Zaventem 26.0 minutes

10. Munich 25.6 minutes

Source: Eurocontrol

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