BA chief attacks Heathrow

Unless the UK aviation industry gets its act together, traffic will grow...

In a scathing attack on the way British aviation has been managed over the last two decades, the chief executive of British Airways, Rod Eddington said it is high time the UK starts "planning for success instead of managing decline".

...ticket prices will rise...

Otherwise, air fares will rise and airports will become ever more crowded as investment from abroad slumps and productivity drops, he said in a speech at the Aviation Club lunch in London on Wednesday.

"Demand for air travel in Britain has nearly tripled since 1975, and Heathrow, our national strategic asset, is operating with the same runway capacity now as then," Mr Eddington said.

"It's not surprising then, that Britain has slipped down the aviation hierarchy."

European competition

Mr Eddington envisaged a future where crisp, clean, airy, beautifully designed European airports with good transport links would take over the traffic that Heathrow cannot handle.

...there will be more delays...

While at Heathrow, he foresaw "scenes like the director's cut of Blade Runner; even more crowding, even more congestion than today, longer queues, frustration, inefficiencies, anger".

"Tourists and foreign business people will have their first experience of Britain at Heathrow and it'll be like the [London Underground] Northern line in the rush hour."

Costly decline

Obviously, British Airways has a vested interest in ensuring high levels of investment in aviation infrastructure at Heathrow and elsewhere in the UK.

...and the crowds at Heathrow will resemble the Northern line during the rush hour.

Mr Eddington said that flight delays in Europe alone cost airlines £2.5bn a year.

British Airways' share of that was around £100m in its London airports Heathrow and Gatwick alone.

In addition, the cost to British Airways of having to divide its operation between the two airports was estimated at about £500m per year.