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Willie Walsh: “According to the Davies Commission, a new Heathrow runway would cost £17.6bn. Only £182m is for the runway. The new car park would cost £800m”
Walsh: We’ll expand other hubs if Heathrow too costly
IAG CHIEF WILLIE WALSH POURS SCORNON BOTH HEATHROW’S AND GATWICK’S PLANS FOR EXPANSION. BY IAN TAYLOR
Hopes of an imminent government decision on a new runway in London may be dashed by the EU referendum result. But International Airlines Group chief executive Willie Walsh hit out at the runway proposals of both Heathrow and Gatwick last week.
Addressing the Abta Travel
Matters conference in London, Walsh accused Heathrow of “ripping off customers” and warned that British Airways and other IAG carriers would
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travelweekly.co.uk 30 June 2016
expand elsewhere if costs are not controlled. He told the conference: “Heathrow is already the most expensive hub airport in the world. According to the Davies Commission [on airport capacity], a new runway would cost £17.6 billion. Only £182 million is for the runway. The new car park would cost £800 million.” Walsh dismissed Gatwick too,
saying: “We struggle to see any business case for expanding Gatwick. We’ll consider our
position at the airport if the government backs expansion there. The cost in airport charges would wipe out the profits we make at the airport.” Focusing on Heathrow, he said:
“You cannot trust Heathrow to deliver anything in a cost-effective manner. Customers have been ripped off by Heathrow for years and leopards don’t change their spots.” He said: “I’ll give you an
example. We wanted to install self-service bag drop. The airport estimated the cost at just under £150,000 per unit. We’ve priced the same unit at less than £15,000. To make matters worse, Heathrow
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