London — Heathrow has been given permission to increase charges by more than 50 per cent from January 1.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the cap on the west London airport's price per passenger next year will be 30.19 pounds.

The current cap is 19.60 pounds.

Charges are paid by airlines but are generally passed on to passengers in air fares.

The new figure "reflects the uncertainty of the recovery of passenger volumes at the airport from the pandemic, particularly following the emergence of new information about the Omicron variant of Covid-19," according to the CAA.

The cap will move up or down depending on factors such as passenger numbers and commercial revenue.

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