BAA executives say Heathrow to decline
01.05.11
Heathrow has no long-term future as a major hub airport, the Sunday Mail reports senior executives at owner BAA have said. At best they believe they can defend Heathrow’s status as the world’s busiest international airport for 15 years. After that, they say the Government’s refusal to approve a third runway means that traffic will migrate to rival European hub airports in Paris, Amsterdam and Madrid.
The newspaper reports that BAA is resigned to losing the battle for the building of a third runway at Heathrow. They also believe the Government is wrong to say additional capacity at other London airports would make up for blocking the expansion at Heathrow. ‘By definition, a hub airport must have the capacity to allow flights in and out – it is no good splitting it,’ an executive said.
BA, Heathrow's largest airline, which merged with Spanish airline Iberia this year, has abandoned ambitions to expand at the airport. Chief executive Willie Walsh said that the airlines would instead focus growth on Madrid’s Barajas airport, which 'has four runways and unused capacity of 20 percent.'
The decision to block expansion at Heathrow has also been criticised by other major Heathrow users such as Virgin Atlantic. The airline complained last year that Heathrow was full and that the absence of a third runway made it impossible to compete with BA.
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