Until London Heathrow gets a third runway, passenger numbers cannot increase by more than 1% a year, with the UK “forgoing economic growth” and shedding air travellers to European airports as a result, says the airport’s chief executive Thomas Woldbye.
He told an Aviation Club luncheon in London on 12 February that the city is “losing market share each year” to competitors such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris Charles de Gaulle because of restrictions on passenger capacity and slots it can offer airlines.
Although the UK government has approved in principle a proposal by Heathrow to build an additional 3,500m runway by relocating part of the M25 orbital motorway, a final planning green light is unlikely for several years, meaning a new runway will not be operational before the second half of the 2030s.
Despite that, Woldbye says Heathrow continues to “get the fundamentals right” as the UK’s main hub. Last year, passenger numbers were a record 84 million.
Projects such as expanding Terminal 2 by demolishing Terminal 3 and what remains of Terminal 1 will see a modest growth in capacity and improve the passenger experience, although the opportunity to increase numbers of departures is limited, he says.
Woldbye also defends Heathrow’s often-criticised fees saying increases are controlled by the regulator and that demand for slots remains high.
“Airlines make huge profits out of Heathrow,” he says. “Why is a slot at Heathrow the most sought-after in the world?”
He also says the challenge of handling so many passengers within existing terminal facilities is unlike that faced by any of his European competitors. Paris CDG, for instance, occupies more than two-and-a-half times Heathrow’s 12.3sq km.
“We are squeezing so many people through such a little piece of land,” says Woldbye.
