London (PTI): Air travel from India to London is expected to become expensive from next year following the hike in landing charges announced by the British Airports Authority (BAA).

The BAA, which owns and operates seven British airports, including Heathrow, announced that it needed to hike the flight landing charges to meet the cost of expensive upgrades at airports.

The Civil Aviation Authority said that BAA could increase the charges at Heathrow to 12.80 pounds per passenger next year with subsequent annual rises of no more than 7.5 per cent above inflation.

Gatwick airport charges are to rise to 6.79 pounds, with subsequent increases to rise no more than two per cent above inflation.

The CAA has been accused by airlines of bowing to pressure from BAA. The airlines refused to indicate how much of the increase would be passed on to passengers, but experts claimed that they would have little choice but to push up ticket fare.

Paul Charles, director of communications for Virgin Atlantic, told The Independent that the company would try to absorb the costs.

"We operate in an area that is very competitive and you can't really raise prices. The US airlines do not face the same charging regime. All it does is make UK airlines uncompetitive," he was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

The Indian sector is among the most profitable for British airlines.