The airport announced a new charge structure on Monday (February 25) worth “several hundred million pounds”.
The new arrangements, if approved, will come into force in 2022 with the aim of incentivising airlines to grow passenger numbers.
Heathrow said the deal follows several months of “detailed negotiations” and would help “keep airport charges close to 2016 levels in real terms” during its planned expansion.
Expansion at Heathrow will be achieved by creation of a third runway, as well as maximising passenger numbers on existing routes.
The airport has worked closely with the CAA on the new commercial arrangement, which will now be put out to public consultation.
John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow chief executive, said: “Over several months, we’ve been working hard with our airline partners to agree a deal on airport charges to 2021.
“We are delighted the result is the first-ever commercial agreement at Heathrow, which will unlock hundreds of millions of pounds of potential investment for our passengers.
“We’ve shown we can achieve more by working together and we will continue working to build on this momentum as we expand.”
Airlines at Heathrow currently operate at load factors below the Iata global average, meaning many flights are not operating at full capacity.
Heathrow has pledged to reduce passenger charges by 10% to 20% if airlines operating at the airport can reach these global averages.
The airport says this will help it meet the government’s affordability target for expansion and mean it can spread the cost of expansion across a larger passenger base.
If final approval is agreed by the CAA, the currently regulatory framework will be extended until December 2021 with the new regime coming into force in 2022 – the proposed start date for Heathrow’s expansion works, subject to the airport securing the necessary planning and regulatory permissions.
