'Scrap Flights to Ease Heathrow's Delays'
A leading business group believes Heathrow's notorious congestion problems could be solved by scrapping flights at the busy flight hub.
London First, a lobby group, argued that airports operator BAA should scrap flights to ease Heathrow's delays, which according to figures released recently have become significantly worse over the last few months.
Arguing that cutting flights could solve Heathrow delays, Baroness Jo Valentine - London First's chief executive - said that by removing up to 5,000 flights from Heathrow's schedule, then service for passengers could be improved, especially at peak times.
The report said even removing 1% of flights (or 4,800 arrivals and departures) would be a step forward to reducing problems.
As reported by Airport International in recent months, Heathrow has a poor reputation among airline bosses and passengers. Many high-profile figures from airlines, including British Airways and American Airlines, have criticised the delays and standard of facilities at the airport, while Heathrow consistently performs badly in airport passenger satisfaction surveys.
Economic Case for Heathrow's Expansion
Repeating the economic case for Heathrow's expansion to include a third runway and sixth terminal, Valentine said Heathrow's performance was damaging the UK economy. She said: "London's international connectivity is essential to its appeal as a business location. In a globalised world, business needs to fly to reach customers and clients. Quite simply, if business can't fly easily, reliably and comfortably from London, it will go elsewhere".
However, Valentine said even before considering expansion BAA needs to take drastic action to repair Heathrow's poor reputation for suffering delays. She said the only way to achieve this is by reducing capacity so that "breathing space" can be bought to restore the airport's on-time performance.
Figures released by the Civil Aviation Authority earlier this month showed that just 56% of flights from Heathrow departed or arrived on time in the first three months of 2008 - the worst punctuality rate for seven years.
Heathrow 'Needs A Third Runway'
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, BAA's chief executive Colin Matthews, said London First's argument for reducing flights at Heathrow "a false choice".
He admitted that Heathrow is "jam-packed", but said the only way to reduce the airport's problems is to expand capacity through the proposed new runway and terminal.
Arguing that Heathrow "needs a third runway", Matthews said: "We do need the new capacity at Heathrow today in order to maintain its role, the way London and the country connects to the rest of the world.
Later today, Matthews will make his first public speech since taking over BAA in April, where he is expected to launch a robust defence of the Heathrow expansion plans and make comment on the Competition Commission's investigation into BAA's ownership of seven UK airports.
Source - Airport International's London Reporter
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