UK’s aviation regulator gives go-ahead to raise air traffic control charges

Airlines call decision ‘a kick in the teeth’ for passengers as flight costs are likely to soar

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The UK’s air traffic controller has been given the green light to increase charges by more than a quarter, weeks after a system failure caused travel chaos and resulted in more than 2,000 flights being cancelled.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said its pricing decision would give National Air Traffic Services (Nats) the ability to raise fees by about 25% between 2023 and 2027 – in effect increasing the average charge per passenger per flight by 43p to £2.08.