Open skies deal could swamp us, BAA says - Industry sectors - Times Online

Open skies deal could swamp us, BAA says - Industry sectors - Times Online: Open skies deal could swamp us, BAA says
By Carl Mortished, International Business Editor



HEATHROW Airport would struggle to accommodate the big influx of US airlines that would follow an “open skies” treaty between America and the European Union, according to BAA, the owner of the airport.
Severe congestion at London’s main airport and scarcity of spare take-off and landing slots would place obstacles to new services even if the two sides were able to agree terms to liberalise the North Atlantic air transport market, BAA believes.



Opposition in the US Senate to ending restrictions on foreign ownership of US airlines is hindering the Bush Administration’s attempts to agree an open skies treaty with Europe, but a BAA internal briefing note seen by The Times reveals that Heathrow could barely cope with the hoped-for expansion of transatlantic flights.

According to BAA, demand already exceeds supply at Heathrow in landing slots and apron and terminal capacity. Its briefing note refers to advice by Airport Coordination Limited, the manager of take-off and landing slots at UK airports, which gave warning of scarce slot availability other than through slot trading between airlines.

US airlines will be forced to pay high prices — more than £10 million — for slots at peak early morning arrival times, but even then the slots will not be confirmed where there is a lack of parking for aircraft and terminal facilities. Delta Airlines recently agreed to pay United Airlines $20 million (£10.6 million) for route rights that will allow it to fly between New York and Gatwick. Delta has made clear its wish for a Heathrow service.

A BAA spokesman said that it expected carriers to attempt mass migration from Gatwick to Heathrow if and when an open skies deal is agreed. He said: “There are 30 Gatwick-US flights every day. They will want to come to Heathrow.”

Until the opening of Heathrow’s Terminal 5 in 2008, BAA reckons that it might have to split a new carrier’s service between more than one terminal or even split the arrival and departure elements of one service between two terminals. Its briefing note says: “The difficulties in communicating this arrangement to passengers, and the wayfinding difficulties faced by passengers themselves, would be unfortunate side- effects of such a step.”

A BAA official admitted that new traffic would bring difficulty. He said: “If open skies happens in the next two years, we physically don’t have capacity.”