FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1991
1991 - 0984.PDF
NEWS ANALYSIS WAIVING THE RULES London's airport system has suffered a series of shocks which all users can feel, but it is too early to say if the shake-up will benefit the airlines — or the passenger. The world's international air ports have all been hit by the recession and suffered the compounding effects of the Gulf crisis and high fuel prices. London's airports have suf fered the additional shock of three significant changes within two months; these have left senior executives at BAA, owner of London's Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted Airports, with their heads spinning. BAA chief executive Sir John Egan says the full effects of the UK Government's March deci sion to scrap the London Air port traffic distribution rules (TDRs) are impossible to pre dict. "For 13 years BAA has been satisfying the demand at Gatwick created by the artificial environment of the TDRs," he points out. The prime purpose of the TDRs, which prevented new air lines entering Heathrow from 1978, was to force artificially rapid traffic development at Gatwick. Preventing Heathrow congestion was a secondary consideration only because the airport, at that time, had ade quate capacity. Now, with Egan's recent arri val at BAA, comes total backing for deregulation. Freedom in bilateral agreements, he be lieves, is the key to Stansted's rapid growth. Some Gatwick carriers have already begun their moves to Heathrow. Virgin Atlantic, Cathay Pacific and All Nippon Airways have all won the slots they need for basic planned Heathrow operations. Egan shows disappointment, saying: "Our new [Gatwick] North Terminal is losing out to Heathrow. It is a beautifully planned airport environment designed for the needs of world- class airlines. Now we have to find a way to provide for them in a crowded environment." He estimates the airlines moving to Heathrow will take 750,000 passengers with them. Egan accepts Heathrow's popu larity with the airlines, saying: "Demand [to transfer) would have been higher if it had not been for [Heathrow's] conges tion... [but] airlines have been far more prepared to use off- peak times at Heathrow than ever would have been expected." ^HHHBMBMHH There is a good side to the Heathrow transfers, he acknowl edges: "We have been try ing to run the biggest inter national hub airport in the world with out some of the world's best airlines." Other events desta bilising the London air ports system is the 8 March col lapse of Gatwick- based Air Eu- ^^^^^^^^^^^ rope and the ^^^^^^^^^^^ 4 April replacement of Pan Am by United Airlines at Heathrow. Air Europe was the largest sin gle provider of Gatwick sched uled departures to Europea. Although United, initially, at least, flies similar Heathrow schedules to Pan Am's, the new arrival's size, US domestic net work and marketing power is certain to have a major effect on the Heathrow-USA market. Virgin is moving its New York JFK, Los Angeles and Tokyo departures to Heathrow; staying at Gatwick are its New York Newark, Boston, Miami and Orlando departures. Cathay Pacific is moving some, and All Nippon Airways all, operations from Gatwick to Heathrow. Gatwick traffic, which had just begun to show the first "We have to find a way to provide for them in a crowded environment" Sir John Egan, BAA clear signs of recovery since the Gulf War's end, dropped four percentage points immediately Air Europe ceased flying. Traffic picked up within a week to continue its rise, along with the other London airports. Air Europe is nevertheless a major loss to Gatwick. The air- •MBBMMMM line carried just over 1.5 million sched uled passen gers in 1988- 9, the major ity from Gatwick Air port, where it accounted for some 50 scheduled movements a day. Its flight into Admini stration has put a signifi cant number of desirable slots up for sale. Dan-Air is flying Air Europe's Gatwick-Brus- sels and Am- ^^^^^^^^^^^ s t e r d a m ^^^^^^^^^^^ schedules on temporary authority. Jersey Eu ropean Airways has taken up four Gatwick-Guernsey depar tures a day. Dan-Air has applied for, but not asked to fly imme diately, Air Europe's Stockholm, Oslo, Rome, Palma, Gibraltar and Malta services. New Dan-Air chief David James has just presented the CAA with financial plans to back its listed route applica tions. He is concerned the CAA will feel obliged to split route allocations between applicants "... in the name of competition". Others interested in Air Europe and Dan-Air routes are GB Air ways (Barcelona, Nice, Paris and Rome) and Air UK Leisure (Gibraltar, Malta and Palma). Spreading the market too much is dangerous, says James. "Two significant UK carriers at Gatwick would ensure that nei ther is stable. Gatwick needs a confident, well financed short- haul operator," he argues. Meanwhile, James is happy with the new Gatwick. "We do not see a problem with a loss of interlining passengers. It is a factor which has been overesti mated. Gatwick represents a macro-economic unit which is wholly self-sufficient," he says. BAA's 1990/1 figures show London Heathrow Airport pas senger traffic increased by 2.2% to 41.2 million; Gatwick's de clined 3.7% to 20.4 million while Stansted's dropped 14.2% to 1.1 million. Charter-dominated Stansted's percentage fall was highest, but its loss in actual numbers rela tively slight. Charter flights have been particularly hard-hit by the UK recession. However, byr the end of April, Stansted will have doubled its scheduled destinations to 24. "Charter traffic has stopped going down," says Egan; "It is probably on its bedrock now." The recession means BAA "...won't be investing money to provide capacity in advance", says Egan. Upheaval ended a difficult year for BAA. Initial assessments for the financial year just ended show no traffic growth at its airports. While bettering predic tions of actual reductions, seen against forecasts of 4% growth (3 million passengers), it was a gloomy result. Egan is forecasting a 5-6% traffic increase for 1991/2. "Be cause of the clean end to the Gulf War, and the relatively low fuel prices now, we think that the recession may end earlier than predicted," he comments. The upturns now showing are rapid, but Egan cautions about them: "Beware, there might be an overshoot resulting from de layed journeys." BY DAVID LEARMOUNT • 26 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 17-23 April. 1991
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
