Willie Walsh and aviation insiders think Heathrow hopes of getting planning consent by 2020 are unrealistic

The Times reports that Willie Walsh, head of British Airways’ parent company IAG, (Heathrow’s biggest customer), said that Heathrow’s target for its runway plans were over optimistic.  He did not think the timetable of getting the support of MPs in the Commons within 12 months and then getting the planning process completed – through all the legal and planning hurdles  – in a further 2 years was realistic. Those timings are highly optimistic, but Heathrow is preparing to start work on a 3rd runway in three years from now – in 2020.  An airline insider told The Times that DfT officials had privately told industry bosses that planning permission would not be won until 2021. There will be legal challenges, and those could mean the timetable could slip even further. Heathrow wants to get its runway built by 2025, so it could increase the number of flights by 50% by 2030, compared to the number now.  Heathrow has said it wants to apply to raise the number of flights from its legal cap now, of 480,000 per year, to 505,000 from 2021 – if it has been granted planning approval for the runway. That might involve one or two fewer flights in the night period, but a loss of some runway alternation during the day – perhaps softening people up for the worse noise, and shorter respite periods, there would be with a 3rd runway.
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Heathrow runway timetable ‘pie in the sky’

By Graeme Paton, Transport Correspondent (The Times)
February 25th  2017

Heathrow is preparing to start work on a third runway in three years’ time, despite claims from senior airline bosses that the timetable is unachievable.

 

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However, Willie Walsh, head of British Airways’ parent company IAG, Heathrow’s biggest customer, said that the target was unlikely to be reached, branding it as an “optimistic outlook”.

An airline insider told The Times that Department for Transport officials had privately told industry bosses that planning permission would not be won until 2021.

See full Times article at

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/heathrow-runway-timetable-pie-in-sky-v5vr5wdw0

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Era of falling air fares may be over, BA’s owner warns

By Graeme Paton, Transport Correspondent (The Times)
February 25th  2017,

The owner of British Airways warned yesterday that the era of declining air fares may be over amid a sharp rise in the cost of oil and a slump in the value of the pound.

Willie Walsh, chief executive of International Airlines Group (IAG), said that fares were set to be flat this year after two years of falling prices. His comments were made as the group, which owns BA, Iberia and Aer Lingus, reported a rise in profits, despite taking a post-Brexit hit. IAG reported that pre-tax profits were up by a third to €2.4 billion in 2016.

A slump in the value of the pound since Britain’s vote to leave the EU cost the company €460 million while passenger and cargo revenues slid by 1.3 per cent to almost €22.6 billion.

IAG said that it would increase cash returns to shareholders through a stock buyback worth €500 million.

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See full Times article at
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/era-of-falling-air-fares-may-be-over-bas-owner-warns-cvl60p3gv

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