Heathrow has no long-term future as a major hub airport, the Sunday Mail reports that senior executives at its owner, BAA, have said. At the very best they believe they can defend Heathrow’s status as the world’s busiest international airport for the next 15 years. After that, they say, the Government’s refusal to approve a third runway means that traffic will migrate to rival airports in Paris, Amsterdam and Madrid.
The newspaper reports that it is understood that BAA is resigned to losing the battle for the building of a third runway at Heathrow. They also believe the Government is wrong to say additional capacity at other London airports would make up for blocking the expansion at Heathrow. ‘By definition, a hub airport must have the capacity to allow flights in and out – it is no good splitting it,’ an executive said.
British Airways, Heathrow's largest airline, which has merged with Spanish airline Iberia, has abandoned ambitions to expand at the airport. Chief executive Willie Walsh said that the airline would instead start to focus its growth on Madrid’s Barajas airport. He said: ‘Madrid Barajas has four runways and unused capacity of 20 per cent.'
The decision to block expansion at Heathrow has also been criticised by other major airport users such as Virgin Atlantic. The carrier complained last year that the airport was full and that the absence of a third runway made it impossible to compete with companies such as BA.