‘Three years’ until capacity decision, BAA chief
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Colin Matthews, chief executive offier of Heathrow Airport owners BAA has said a decision into London’s cramped aviation capacity could take another two or three years to materialise.
Speaking at PATA’s City Hub Forum yesterday, Matthews said the government needs “to look at all options” and should aim to have a longer-term effect than previously short-term decisions.
“It would be preferred that a decision [whether that is a new runway at Heathrow or a new hub] is to be made properly even if it takes another two or three years,” the BAA boss told travel and tourism authorities in London. “For Heathrow, there needs to be a third party between the locals and BAA to put the third runway points across, such as the fact that new aircraft is quieter”.
Matthews added that as the airline industry continues to move forward with biofuel production, noise pollution is also worthy of discussion. “Noise reduction has to become an industry concern as biofuel has. The new B787s and A380s are already improving this; they were built for Heathrow [as to be quieter for those living under the flightpath],” he said.
With location or the spread of airlines is often mentioned in the capacity debate, Matthews called for the travel industry to think of airports and airlines working with each other and not against. For example, easyJet suits Stansted for its quick turnaround times and has no desire to fly from Heathrow, whereas flagship carriers want the connections from a ‘hub’ style airport, as Heathrow would like to be if runway extension is ever granted.
Perhaps more in Matthews’ mind at the moment though is of course the Olympics, which will see athletes, tourists and business people flying in throughout the next month ahead of the opening ceremony on 27 July.
Admitting he was “confident but stressed” about stringent and constant preparations at Heathrow, Matthews also expressed his concern that “something will happen [to transport] in London” whether that on the underground, roads or elsewhere.
“London’s infrastructure will be tested so we have to hope the preparations in place work as they should,” he added. Generally not covering reports on immigration, he added that the Border Agency aims to keep queues at 25 minutes maximum for EU passport holders and 45 minutes for non-EU passport holders.