Heathrow third runway 'will be a costly error'

From the Daily Telegraph website, 5th May 2008

The former head of British Airways has called for an end to Heathrow expansion plans, claiming that the Government's proposal for a third runway will prove a "costly mistake".

Rob Ayling, the former BA chief executive from 1996 to 2000, claimed building another runway was based on a flawed model that had already contributed to the collapse of airlines in the US.
He said Heathrow was a "national disgrace" and was like a Third World airport.

Mr Ayling also said that the third runway was being driven by the airport operator BAA with Government support, and would be counterproductive and "a classic exercise in misguided central planning".

The plans are for a "hub and spoke" centre for transfer passengers.

The model, Mr Ayling said, was pioneered in the US in the 1970s by Federal Express, which used it for transporting packages before it was adapted by airlines.

"People are not parcels," he wrote in an article published at the weekend. "Missed connections, lost baggage and delayed flights created inefficiencies that contributed to the bankruptcy of almost every US airline."

Mr Ayling also warned that "transfer traffic in its own right is loss-making".

Return to the This Is Longford website