Third runway at Heathrow a mistake

[5th May 2008]

Building a third runway at Heathrow airport would be a “costly mistake” says former British Airways chief executive, Bob Ayling, writing in a national newspaper.

In his article in the Sunday Times, Ayling says the government should scrap its white paper on airports and strip the Civil Aviation Authority of its powers regulating BAA. He also calls for the Competition Commission to break up BAA.

The government’s emphasis on making Heathrow airport a global hub is not a good idea, argues Ayling. “Transfer passengers, for whom such a hub would be built, spend no money in Britain, at least little beyond the price of a cup of tea, and Heathrow as an interchange is already so far behind its rivals that it is out of the game,” he writes.

Ayling believes that a much better model is to offer direct flights. “The most commercially successful airlines - Ryanair, easyJet and SouthWest - have all rejected the hub model and flown passengers direct to their destinations. And yet BAA and the government seem not to have learnt from these lessons,” writes Ayling.

The former BA boss points out that Heathrow is struggling to cope with 68 million passengers when facilities, including the baggage handling system, are designed to handle around 45 million.

Rather than operating at 99% capacity as now, which means even a small problem can lead to severe delays at the airport, Ayling says Heathrow and its airlines would be much be much better off operating at 80% capacity and placing the emphasis on punctuality and service.

Ayling acknowledges that London needs a third runway, but says that a much better solution would be to build a new runway at Gatwick and or Stansted airports.

Written by: Nick Purdom

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