Missing airport service targets has cost £7 million to the erring airport owner BAA. Britain’s largest airport group failed in meeting service targets at Gatwick and Heathrow, including seating and security queues.

BAA has also been warned over consistent failures in achieving benchmarks for signage, cleanliness and seating at some terminals.

BAA has been ordered by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to pay back landing fees of £7.34m to two of the biggest airlines at the airport along with highest ever charge of £1.65m for missing new security queuing targets at Heathrow in April. The minimum waiting time for passengers has been halved as per the new service standard.

CAA reported that overall security queuing time had improved significantly during April to September in comparison with last year. New guidelines of April 2008 stipulate that passengers at highly congested Gatwick and Heathrow departure gates should not be made to queue for more than five minutes for security checks 95% of the time, against earlier waiting period of a minimum of 10 minutes.

Barring initial substandard performance at the opening of Heathrow Terminal in March, CAA reported that BAA met 5 minutes target at Heathrow and Gatwick. It pointed out that Terminal 3 did not meet targets for departure lounge seat availability and Terminal 4 failed in achieving benchmarks for piers, while Gatwick was performing consistently below standard for directions, seating, cleanliness and piers services.

BAA spokesperson informed that the group was working on plans to improve seating, cleanliness and signage standards at some terminals of Heathrow and Gatwick.

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