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November 30, 2003 Forbes – London, England
BA Mulls Challenge to Stansted Airport Expansion
LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - British Airways, Europe's biggest airline, said on Sunday a decision to expand Stansted Airport rather than its own base at Heathrow could be anti-competitive and that it would consider challenging any such move.
Weekend press reports said the British government would opt to build a new runway at Stansted after pollution concerns ruled out an expansion of Heathrow in the near future.
The reports said Transport Secretary Alistair Darling would pave the way for a new runway at Stansted, London's third airport located northeast of the capital, when he unveils his 30-year strategy for aviation next month.
BA pays landing fees at Heathrow, its international hub. It does not operate out of Stansted, which is used mainly by low-cost carriers such as easy Jet and Ryanair.
A spokesman for BA said the airline was awaiting publication of the White Paper before declaring its intentions, but he repeated concern that expansion at Stansted would effectively be subsidized by users of Heathrow..
"We don't think it would be financially viable to build another runway at Stansted without cross-subsidy," a BA spokesman told Reuters. "Our belief is that if that were the case it would be anti-competitive and definitely be something that would be open to challenge."
The UK government is considering its options on how to boost capacity over the next 30 years to cope with an estimated tripling in demand for air travel. The issue has been hotly contested by environmental groups, local residents and the industry.
Building a third runway at Heathrow would not be possible in the near future without breaching EU pollution rules, according to the reports.
"We do believe that all the environment issues linked to potential expansion at Heathrow can be overcome and that EU regulations on airports can be met," the BA spokesman said. He said modern aircraft were more environmentally friendly than older planes.
He said a decision to expand Stansted before Heathrow "would undermine Heathrow's position quite significantly" and potentially force travelers to take flights from other European cities such as Paris or Amsterdam.
BAA said the reports of an expansion at Stansted were speculative ahead of the publication of the White Paper.
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