Heathrow Airport is ruining the experience of air travel, according to Steve Ridgway, Virgin Atlantic's chief executive. His remarks came a fortnight after the Civil Aviation Authority proposed a 15.6% rise in landing charges at the airport next year and 7.5% above inflation for the next four years after that.
Mr Ridgway stepped up the airline's war of words against Europe's busiest airport at the Aviation Club lunch, a gathering of influential industry figures. He accused the CAA of 'rewarding poor performance' and demanded the regulator get tough with Spanish-owned BAA over Heathrow.
He warned that Heathrow was damaging the British economy as a whole, saying: 'It's position as a pre-eminent airport is being challenged as never before. Heathrow is a horrible experience; it is ruining air travel. How frustrating is it, for example, for a crew who work hard on overnight flights from other parts of the world to find our passengers having to queue for two hours at immigration.'
Mr Ridgway also warned of the environmental challenge faced by aviation. But he ridiculed those who called for Heathrow's expansion to be blocked because of climate change. He said: 'If Heathrow is not allowed to expand, a passenger from Scotland flying to Shanghai would fly from Amsterdam instead. Where is the environmental benefit in that?'
However, he supported plans for an EU-wide trading emissions scheme, saying: 'For airlines, being green is no longer an optional extra.'
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Any comments? When will BAA finally realise that they run airports and not shopping centres!