IAG chief executive Willie Walsh says he will not be supporting any of the three shortlisted options to expand Gatwick or Heathrow because of concerns over the potential for their construction costs, and consequently airline charges, to rise.
Speaking at the Airport Operators Association (AOA) conference in London, Walsh said he would “struggle” to support any of the proposals “principally on the basis of cost” after a new study by the Airports Commission suggested that the costs associated with all three options had been underestimated.
“I think that the cost that I have seen, and the impact it would have on my cost base would be excessive and I don’t trust the airports for that reason,” he says.
He also criticised a pledge made by London Gatwick boss Stewart Wingate at the AOA conference on 10 November that he could keep airport charges below £15 until 2030 and still fund the construction of a second runway.
“That [pledge] is meaningless to me, that in effect says I can double my charges because the charges today are under the CAA Q6 [the capped limit on airport charges between 2014-2018] which I think is around £9,” Walsh says, adding: “At what point does it increase to £15, does it increase to £15 in year 30 or does it increase to £15 tomorrow? These are the big ticket issues that as an airline we need to understand.”
Walsh’s statements were echoed by Virgin Atlantic chief executive Craig Kreeger, who said that after an initial read of the new report he had concerns that the “costs are going to be higher than originally suggested”.
“We certainly don’t want to see the customers of today paying for airport capacity of the future and we hope that we will reach a point where capacity can be added and it will be economically sensible.”
In its new assessment of the three shortlisted proposals, the Airports Commission has raised concerns that all three will require several billion pounds more than previously estimated and that airline charges will consequently need to rise higher than the proposal's authors have indicated.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
