The chief executive of British Airways has attacked the Conservative party leader, David Cameron, for backing "flawed arguments" against a third runway at Heathrow airport.
Willie Walsh accused Cameron of being "extremely insulting" towards millions of British residents by claiming that Heathrow wasted runway space by accommodating transfer passengers. The combative executive also disagreed with Cameron's argument that the case had not been made for a new runway at the UK's biggest airport.
"The case has been made and we have debated it long enough," he said.
Walsh dismissed arguments by Cameron and the former BA boss Bob Ayling that Heathrow could solve its congestion problem by dropping the domestic flights that feed passengers from around Britain into its long-haul services.
These transfer passengers are becoming a key battleground in the debate over whether a third runway should be built, with the government expected to conclude a consultation later this year.
"The suggestion that transfer passengers bring no benefit to the UK economy is extremely insulting to the millions of UK residents in the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland who regularly fly to Heathrow to catch connections to distant parts of the globe, to win or maintain business and jobs for Britain," Walsh said yesterday. Transfer passengers account for an estimated four out of 10 passengers at Heathrow, out of an annual total of 68 million travellers.
In a sign the Conservatives are being targeted by the aviation lobby as they become a more likely party of government, , Colin Matthews, the chief executive of BAA, the parent company of Heathrow, also warned that disregarding transfer passengers was "thoroughly dangerous".
According to BA and BAA, Heathrow airlines want to maintain networks of long-haul destinations because customers fly into the airport from all over Britain to connect with those services. If those short-haul feeder routes make way for runway space, industry executives claim, long-haul services will become unviable and the UK would be left with fewer connections to the wider world.
Both executives were speaking at a conference on aviation and the environment sponsored by Transport Times magazine. One anti-Heathrow campaigner warned that a third runway would have serious environmental consequences while bringing negligible economic benefits.
"Heathrow is important but the expansion of Heathrow is not essential," said John Stewart, chairman of the HACAN anti-Heathrow expansion group.
Cameron toughened the Tory stance on a third runway last week. Previously, the Tories had pledged to review the need for one. In a speech last week, Cameron stepped up his anti-Heathrow rhetoric.
"There are now increasing grounds to believe that the economic case for a third runway is flawed, even without addressing the environmental concerns," he said.
Stephen Hammond MP, a member of the shadow transport team, said: "The challenge to Mr Walsh is that rather than bad-mouthing his predecessor and David Cameron, he should try to prove his point about Heathrow, if he can."
