The UK Civil Aviation Authority made its final decision on 30 July 2026, and it settles an argument that has been running quietly for a year. Heathrow can recover up to £320 million it has already spent planning a third runway, taken from the charges it levies on airlines and passengers from 2028.
If you fly out of Heathrow from then on, a sliver of the Heathrow third runway costs is added to your fare, and it stays there whether or not anything is ever built.
The Key Facts
- £320 million cap on the early costs Heathrow can recover, at 2024 prices
- 15p per passenger added to the maximum airport charge in 2028, then about 30p
- 20 to 25 years of repayment, running into the early 2050s
- £4.14 million also recoverable by the losing bidder, Heathrow West
- Around 10 September the six week deadline to appeal to the CMA
What The Regulator Has Actually Decided
Early costs have been granted, which are really the paperwork stage: planning, design, surveys and the mountain of material needed to support a future Development Consent Order application. None of it buys concrete. Ministers are not expected to reach a planning decision until 2029, and want the runway open by 2035.
The cap is £320 million at 2024 prices, covering what Heathrow spent across 2025 and 2026. The regulator did not simply hand it over. An independent technical expert will monitor the spending, Heathrow has to report its costs openly, and the whole lot faces an efficiency review after the fact.
“Heathrow gets UK CAA nod to charge airlines for new runway”
Heathrow gets UK CAA nod to charge airlines for new runway: the regulator has allowed Heathrow Airport Limited to recover its early-stage expansion costs.
— ch-aviation (@chaviation) August 4, 2026
Tim Johnson, who runs consumers and markets at the CAA, framed it as a balance: progress on expansion on one side, protection from undue cost increases on the other. His argument is that the costs are capped, scrutinised independently and reviewed for efficiency, so passengers fund only what can be justified.
What It Actually Costs You
The CAA expects the maximum charge per passenger to rise by roughly 15p in 2028, then by an estimated 30p in the years after. A family of four flying out of Heathrow is looking at 60p, later around £1.20.
Scale it up and the cap starts to make sense. Heathrow carried a record 40 million passengers in the first half of 2026, so a full year runs near 80 million. At 15p that is roughly £12 million a year. At 30p it is nearer £24 million.
Run that across the 20 to 25 years the CAA has allowed and £320 million comes back comfortably. It also means the charge is still being collected in the early 2050s, long after the runway has either opened in the mid 2030s or quietly gone the way of every previous attempt.
Why A Bid That Lost Is Also On Your Ticket
There is a second bill on the same ticket, and it belongs to the loser. Heathrow West Limited, the shorter runway scheme backed by the Arora Group, can recover about £4.14 million for work done up to November 2025, when ministers chose Heathrow’s plan instead. Heathrow collects that money too.
The gap is what the airlines keep circling. Two companies did the same early stage work on the same project, and one of them spent roughly 77 times what the other did. Back in September 2025 the airline community told the CAA plainly that the scale of Heathrow’s request had never been properly explained.
“push up the airport fee which is added to the cost of your ticket”
“push up the airport fee which is added to the cost of your ticket”
Rob Burgess — Head for Points — Heathrow third runway costs, 23 Apr 2026
The regulator has a defence for paying the loser, and it is a reasonable one. Its statutory duty includes promoting competition in airport operation services where that is appropriate, so a rival that produced a credible scheme is not left carrying the entire cost of having turned up.
What Happens If The Runway Is Never Built
This is the part that has quietly shifted, and it is why the airlines fought so hard. Risk has moved off Heathrow and its shareholders and onto the people flying. Once a cost has been ruled efficient and recoverable it stays recoverable, even if the thing it paid for never exists.
The scheme it pays for is enormous. It is costed at £33 billion in the government’s framing and £49 billion once wider modernisation is counted, with a 3,500 metre runway north west of the existing airfield and the M25 rerouted beneath it. Villages such as Harmondsworth sit inside the footprint.
Not a single house has come down and not a spade has gone in. Ministers want a planning decision by 2029 and an operational runway by 2035, with the Airports National Policy Statement review running alongside. Gatwick settled its own runway fight in court rather than through the charging regime.
The Appeal Clock Runs Out In September
The ruling is final within the CAA’s own process, which is not the same as settled. Heathrow and the airlines flying from it each have six weeks from 30 July to appeal to the Competition and Markets Authority. That puts the deadline at roughly 10 September 2026, and the clock is already well down.
It matters because the airlines lost this round, and lost it comprehensively. British Airways is the biggest carrier at the airport, and it spent the consultation arguing that recovering costs this early was the wrong call.
“unaffordable for consumers and inconsistent with a credible benefits case”
“unaffordable for consumers and inconsistent with a credible benefits case”
British Airways submission — UK Civil Aviation Authority — final decision, 30 Jul 2026
Virgin Atlantic went further still, opposing any recovery at all until a Development Consent Order has actually been granted. The CAA acknowledged both objections, then decided the arrangement was essential to keep expansion moving and to bring the benefits to consumers forward.
What This Means For Your Fares From 2027
Keep the 15p in proportion. The number that will genuinely move your fare is the H8 price control covering 2027 to 2031, where Heathrow has asked to lift the average charge per passenger from £28.46 to £33.26. IAG, which owns British Airways, wants it capped at £23.
That fight is still live. The CAA trimmed Heathrow’s capital plan in its March 2026 initial proposals and a final decision is due in April 2027, which is also where service standards get set, as passengers found when 20,000 bags were stranded at Terminal 5.
There is more to come on early costs as well. A second consultation will cover spending from 2027 onwards and Heathrow West’s 2026 costs, and Heathrow told the regulator last year that pre-planning alone could approach £1 billion. Treat 30p as a floor rather than a ceiling.
So the sensible response is not to rage about 30p. Watch the April 2027 decision, which is where the real money sits, keep an eye on the fees carriers add to reward flights, and price up Gatwick or Stansted whenever a Heathrow departure starts to look expensive.
