Heathrow

At last there is a beginning of sense coming from the national government on airport policy in Britain. The Competition Commission, in its interim report has recommended that BAA (it should not have been allowed to have that name as a private company) sell off Gatwick and Stanstead alone with either Edinburgh of Glasgow.

I would go further – these three airports should be owned by three entirely separate companies.

So overstretched are Heathrow’s runways, which operate at 99% of capacity compared with up to 80% at its rivals Amsterdam (Schiphol) and Paris (de Gaulle) and Frankfort that even the slightest problem with the weather causes delays to ripple through its flight schedules.

Far from building another runway at Heathrow, they need to reduce the operating capacity in stages from 99% down to 80%. Not only will the service improve (far fewer delays) but the amount of stacking (where aircraft circle waiting to land) would fall and therefore reduce the amount of fuel used and flying’s impact on the environment.

It is unlikely that once the three airports are separated that a case for a new runway at Heathrow could be made. There is an argument that Heathrow needs to maintain itself as a hub and gain from network effects. There are indeed benefits for London having a hub airport (often overrated) but there are more benefits in London having two hubs – one at Gatwick too. Gatwick is already a very large airport in its own right.

BAA has been cavalier with its passengers for too long. The split up of our airports with a cap on Heathrow’s operating capacity should lead to better service and a lower impact on the environment.