The government’s decision to select Heathrow as its preferred option for airport expansion came as little surprise when it was announced last week. It was, after all, the favoured choice of Howard Davies, who chaired the Airports Commission, and Heathrow expansion had been touted by the national media as the expected choice for several weeks.
The muted responses from the aviation sector however were more surprising. While the rest of the travel industry reacted with glee – the Guild of Travel Management Companies even labelled it the “most positive economic step-change in recent times for the UK economy”, with the Department for Transport insisting it would bring economic benefits worth £61 billion – the airlines seemed more subdued in their response.
IAG boss Willie Walsh retorted with scepticism when asked last week about whether the third runway could be built within budget, describing it as “a significant challenge” for the airport. “Do I have confidence that the current team at Heathrow can do it? No I don’t,” he was quoted by The Guardian.
Meanwhile, Ryanair’s response was to insist the decision was not enough, and that the only solution would be to build three runways – at Gatwick and Stansted as well as Heathrow.
Carolyn McCall, chief executive of easyJet, commented only to say that it was “good news for UK consumers and businesses”. She added that easyJet was now planning to operate from Heathrow in addition to its existing bases, as long as there was “the right charging structure and the right infrastructure”.
Given that this was potentially the biggest step towards building the first full-length runway in the south-east since the Second World War, one might have expected a little more jubilance.
Even rival airport Schiphol was more positive. Group executive vice-president and chief commercial officer Andre van den Berg told TTG he wished to congratulate Heathrow, noting that a third runway would positively impact the whole of Europe, bringing in more capacity to the continent as a whole. He did acknowledge however that this was only the beginning of a long process.
“Schiphol is better connected to the UK than Heathrow, flying to up to 27 regional airports [Heathrow flies to eight in the UK],” he happily pointed out. “The third runway will take a lot of time [to build] and we will be happy to serve a little longer as the third runway in Amsterdam.”
