London Heathrow airport
© UnknownA welcome sign on approach to London Heathrow airport.
London Heathrow airport has been "ripping off" passengers amid plans to slap a £600 million price hike on passengers over five years, the British Airways (BA) boss has announced.

Speaking at a press conference in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu, Willie Walsh, head of BA and International Airline Group, said the equivalent of £140 million annual hike to prices at Heathrow comes amid bad management and practice.

He called on BA Chief Executive Colin Mathews to step down and criticized senior officials' saying they work toward getting the "right regulatory outcome" rather than running the airport properly.

Walsh claims the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has allowed Britain's biggest and the world's third busiest airport to reward its foreign investors with higher-than-average returns at the expense of passengers.

"I think Heathrow is ripping off passengers and I think if the CAA does not take a stronger line on this, Heathrow will continue to be inefficient and over rewarded."

Heathrow's move will put an extra £7 per head per trip, which the British flag carrier airline said makes it the most expensive hub airport in the world.

"In an environment where everybody has been tightening their belt, for an airport to continue to increase their charges by well in excess of inflation will come as a great surprise to passengers."