Morning:
13°c
Passengers put first in Hoon shake-up of airport rules
09.03.09
The government demanded the end of the Heathrow Hassle today with a shake-up of the queues and regulation at leading airports.
Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon said the proposals would give the Civil Aviation Authority powers to put passenger needs before those of airport operators and airlines.
That could lead to fines for airports that foul up "the through-airport passenger experience" by poor baggage handling or failure to put in enough staff to man security and passport control queues.
Hoon wants the authority to extend its regulation to include not only the country's three largest airports, Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, but also 10 other main airports, including Luton.
New rules will extend to forcing the 13 airports to provide reports on their environmental impact.
