The CAA said its decision on new price control arrangements for Nats (En Route) plc, or Nerl, would allow Nats to continue recovering operating costs and revenue following the pandemic to finance future investment in its services.
Under the settlement, the average charge for Nerl’s regulated en route service over the period from 2023 to 2027 is forecast to increase by 26% compared with 2022 from £47 to £64. In passenger terms, the average cost of UK en route air traffic control services per passenger per flight will increase by around 43p to £2.08.
The CAA said the new charge structure would ensure fees remain "broadly in line with Nerl’s European counterparts".
It also stressed the decision was separate to its independent review of Nats’ performance over the August bank holiday weekend when there was a temporary total failure of UK ATC services affecting around 2,000 flights, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers in limbo or stranded.
However, the trade body representing UK registered airlines has warned it will be passengers who will end up footing the bill for the fees hike.
Ryanair and easyJet have demanded compensation from Nats for the outage, the cost of which they told MPs earlier this month they estimate to have run to around £15 million.
Nats said in the aftermath of the meltdown it had traced the issue to a single flight plan featuring two identically named but separate waypoint markers outside UK airspace, circumstances it described as "extremely rare".
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has led calls for Nats chief Martin Rolfe to resign. Addressing parliament’s transport committee last week, Rolfe defended Nats’ response while admitting there were lessons to be learned.
The CAA has, though, stressed that if the independent review into the outage raises issues in relation to the regulatory framework for Nerl, which necessitate action within the 2023-2027 charge period, it could intervene and make changes to Nerl’s licence.
CAA chief economist Andrew Walker said the decision would allow Nerl to invest in a "resilient, high-quality service" and to modernise its operations to ensure their efficiency while delivering value.
"Implementing targets around performance, efficiency and environmental impact will help deliver an improved airspace system that will benefit everyone," said Walker.
"We also recognise the disruption caused by the technical issue in August and we will consider any further regulatory steps as appropriate following the outcome of the independent review."
‘Another kick in the teeth’
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said: "This is yet another kick in the teeth for passengers who have been plagued by issues this summer, including the August Nats IT failure, and will inevitably end up footing the bill of millions of pounds for increases that simply cannot be justified while it remains unclear what action will be taken to ensure airlines and their customers do not see a repeat of this disruption.
"It is clear that a wider independent review into how Nats is regulated is needed to protect passengers and ensure that airlines are not always forced to act as the insurer of last resort and bear millions of pounds of costs for failures that are not their fault."
