BAA, British Airways Criticise Cameron's Heathrow Speech
The bosses of British Airways and airports operator BAA have both criticised Conservative Party leader David Cameron, who last week attacked the plans to expand Heathrow Airport.
BAA boss Colin Matthews and BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh presented a united front at the Transport Times aviation conference in London.
Cameron last week said the Conservatives would not be supporting Heathrow's expansion plans to include a third runway and a sixth terminal by 2020. He said the idea that Heathrow should become a larger global hub airport was "flawed", because the economic value of transfer passengers was overstated.
At the conference Walsh lambasted this viewpoint, saying Cameron's argument "does not bear examination".
Walsh said: "[Cameron's] suggestion is extremely insulting to the millions of UK residents in the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland who regularly fly to Heathrow to catch connections to distant parts of the globe to win or maintain business and jobs for Britain".
Matthews and Walsh both went on to launch a spirited defence of the Heathrow expansion plans, saying the development is needed if the UK is to maintain pace economically in future.
Heathrow Flight Transfers
Walsh said the key benefit of transfer passengers was that they helped to run routes, such as those to Manchester and regional airports like Leeds-Bradford and Newcastle, "that otherwise would not be financially viable".
In addition, he argued, "the critical financial strength of transfer passengers means that Heathrow can offer a far bigger network of direct, long-haul services for people who want a non-stop journey from London than would otherwise be the case".
Walsh implied that Cameron did not perhaps understand the true value that transfer passengers brought to the country, saying that "the business community understands the importance of being linked".
Matthews, BAA's chief executive, supported Walsh in his speech by saying Heathrow flight transfers provided an important economic contribution to the capital city and beyond.
He said: "Does anybody seriously think that if people living and working, not just in London, but in the rest of the country, were forced to go to Charles De Gaulle, or Schipol to fly to the rest of the world our economy would not suffer?".
London First Heathrow Report
Matthews continued to dismiss Cameron's statement that the Heathrow expansion case was "flawed" by arguing that Heathrow plays a critical, unique role in the UK economy because it is the country's only global hub airport.
He dismissed business group London First's report on Heathrow, released yesterday, which argued that Heathrow's current congestion could be alleviated by reducing the number of flights from the airport.
Matthews said doing this would effectively reduce Heathrow "to a regional airport on the margins of Europe - at a time when this country's direct connections to the rest of the world could not be more important".
He added that keeping up an extensive range of global connections was "essential" if London and the UK's economy was to succeed in the future.
Source - Airport International's London Reporter
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