BAA revives debate about third Heathrow runway

Airport regulator BAA has reignited the debate about whether or not London Heathrow Airport should get a third runway.

Speaking at a transport conference in the capital, chief executive Colin Matthews said lack of runway space at the world's busiest airport was becoming a disadvantage, leaving it vulnerable to disruption.

His comments were endorsed by British Airways, but they came alongside a damning report from London First, which is calling for scaled-back services at Heathrow.

Prior to speaking at the conference today (June 25), Matthews told the BBC that the airport is "jam-packed" and needs a third runway in order to remain competitive.

"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," he said.

More than a third of passengers landing at Heathrow use the hub to transfer onto a different destination, but the senior expert dismissed suggestions that cutting back connecting services could allow to gateway to focus on priority flights.

Insisting that reducing the number of transfer passengers would be a "fundamental error," Matthews said the strategy would undoubtedly have a knock-on effect for British business.

He demanded: "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 Airport or Schiphol Airport to fly to the rest of the world, our economy will not suffer?"

That view, however, appears not to be shared by London First - an employers lobby group that campaigns for greater competitiveness on the international stage.

Weighing in on the subject, the professional body issued a report lampooning what it labelled the "Heathrow hassle" factor and warning that travellers will go elsewhere if efficiency is not improved

In order to avoid such an outcome - which London First said would harm the city's prosperity - the report advocated a strategy of operating fewer flights and devoting more resources to passenger satisfaction.

"Heathrow has been turned from a silk purse to a sow's ear," commented the group's chief executive, Baroness Jo Valentine.

"For years, government, policy-makers and the regulator have failed to prioritise the interests of airport passengers ... Quite simply, if business can't fly easily, reliably and comfortably from London, it will go elsewhere."

For BAA and BA, however, economic prosperity seems irrevocably entwined in meeting burgeoning demand.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh noted at today's conference that absence of spare runway capacity at Heathrow has caused its global network to shrink from 227 destinations in 1990 to just 180 today.

"This is a cycle of decline that must be reversed," he brusquely asserted - though a consensus on how to achieve that goal seems as far-off as ever.

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