On Monday I am going to interviewing Stephen Nelson, the chief executive of BAA on 18 Doughty Street. If you have any burning questions you'd like me to ask him, please do leave them in the comments.
I've also created a short poll, which I'd be really grateful if you would take part in, on airports policy in the UK.
Click Here to take survey
24 comments:
1 To what extent did they fixe the Runway consultation
2 What difference does being owned by the Chinese make ...
3 Are you going out of business
( Sorry at work full details at home ..City Unslicker has post up on their parlous state at the moemnt )
"Airlines should be taxed rather than passengers"
Isn't this pretty much one and the same thing? Surely the consumer will end up paying via higher ticket prices if the airline is taxed higher (on fuel, not profits that is).
Iain - you've done it again. You asked "who do you intend to vote for in the next General Election?"
You really should give an option of 'UNDECIDED' and 'ABSTAINING'.
There are MANY undecided voters out there. So your poll results will be bogus!
:)
Good to see you've 'loaded' the questions nicely by use of terms like 'in principle' or 'not at all'...
Also assuming that we all fly when many of us choose not to.
Sorry to be picky but I think Aberdeen airport was missed off the survey list. It's small but very important to oil industry and local oil related business. What plans do BAA have for Aberdeen airport.
I do hope that you will ask BAA's CEO to arrive at least 3 hours before his scheduled interview.
This will give him the opportunity to stand in a selection of long and slow moving queues whilst he waits for a barely audible announcement or strains to read a poorly sited screen that will invite him to walk a mile to the studio. And then wait a further 30 minutes before the interview begins.
PS You've left Southampton off the list of airports as well as Aberdeen. They're both excellent.
Iain, you have also missed Luton off the airports list. For my sins, it is my favourite airport!
BAA is owned by Ferrovial - Spanish company that, like all Spanish companies, is allowed to fully offset purchasing costs (capital) against its income.
If British companies were allowed to do that, we'd own the world by now.
BAA as it was, was a typically British compromise business. Ferrovial don't have the same sense of fair play.
A new 'London' airport should be opened well away from London connected by a high speed maglev link, which in 20 minutes would send trains 80 miles. east coast has good possibilities using old airfields with enough runways and space to move 50+ million passengers a year.
the skies over London should be quiet.
Anonymous 2:17 - V good!
Once BAA's CEO has negotiated all the queues and X-ray machines, he will be pleased to note that he has two hours of leisure to enjoy duty-free shopping in what is, to all intents and purposes, a giant shopping mall while enjoying music he would not listen to in his home or his car on a bet. Before the interview, he could also take advantage of the many franchises at which he can buy tasteless food and fluorescent fizzy drinks.
Are BAA's Spanish owners intending to do the same to British aviation that the Spanish did for British fishing?
Mike King (an ex CEO at BAA and realted in some way but best not mention that) told me many times the whole policy at BAA was a captive market for shopping - the airport was a burden.
Incidentally the argument for Londoners for a bigger London airport is that it creates jobs - why then have BAA announced 2000 job cuts. Kind of liars.
What about all the secret/unpublicised meetings between BAA and Whitehall (mentioned in the Standard this week) trying to get the consulting wording right so that BAA can slip through the environmental and regulatory hurdles. It tells you that their case is pretty weak if they have had so many meetings in private to squeeze the words through the eye of a needle. The unfortunate thing is what this means for Londoners - that is many types of pollution with no real benefit.
Please ask the CEO why there is no procedure in place for returning items or compensating passengers for items which have been confiscated erroneously by his airport security staff....or does he think that they make no mistakes? If he should maintain that there is such a procedure, please ask why there is no information on this via the BAA website or phone lines.
Further to my previous, why not close Heathrow Airport and develop a high rise City there? - 40 storey condominia, offices, shopping centres, sports facilities, leaisure, churches, schools - the lot - a mini Hong Kong?
Connections to Kent International (formerly RAF manston - Britain's biggest runway by far - large enough to land the space shuttle) by high speed train from St pancras could be 20 minutes. You could process 100 million PAX a year there, no problem - no overflying of cities. London could become quiet and less polluted.
Ask : did anyone consider the views of the people actually working in the new Term III car park, who agreed with me when I complained of the moronic way one has to walk to/from cars - the lifts are mainly sited at the wrong end, and there are far too few payment machines. The old car park was heaven compared to this cheaply-built monstrosity.
Alan Douglas
Has anyone on here tried flying via Liverpool "John Lennon" Airport recently? It's not one of BAA's, so I can't blame them for this...
You now have the choice, when going through security, of waiting over half an hour in a queue - or paying £2.50 to "fast track" your way through security.
I wonder what the "Working Class Hero" would have thought of this?
Could you ask him if long queues in small over crowded corridors with little ventilation, and three toilets is how he thinks people should be welcomed to Britain.
you missed off Luton from the airport, despite the fact that it is the 7th-busiest airport. You also don't give the option for saying they all suck, try a foreign airport such as Singapore for comparison.
Burning questions?
"Mr, Nelson, would you please step into this Wicker Man?"
BAA have used the heightened security risk as a mask for their appalling service. When you pass through Gatwick, the only extra security from pre-9/11 is that you are required to remove your shoes. We also suffer the ridiculous plastic bag for toothpaste rule, but this has zero effect on time.
So why do the queues at Gatwick stretch out the door, even when I'm there at half six in the morning to get the 0835 to Verona? Because BAA do not employ sufficient staff to get people through the security scanners. That's it. End of.
BAA have abused their monopoly and all of our flagship London airports - the first sight of Britain for so many visitors - are disgusting dumps. Greed turned Stansted from a beautiful space to a toilet. Heathrow appears to be disintegrating. Gatwick is probably the least awful of the big 3.
On the politics of it: everyone will tell you that they don't support green taxes. It is basic Thatcherism, however, to move taxation from income to consumption - recall Thatch's first budget. The aesthetic case also rules out any further expansion of the airports in the south east. Both when canvassing in Ealing, and enjoying a weekend break in Windsor, I've had to shout to make myself heard to my companion, because of the never-ending stream of dirty aircraft above us. This concretisation of our environment can't go on.
Anyone used the coach link between Gatwick airport and Heathrow airport?
The cheapest fare I’ve been able to find (unless you are eligible for concessionary travel) is £19 single or £35.50 return. It’s only 42 miles each way – on a bus! With the added risk of being stuck on the M25 for hours.
Lack of competition is the only reason I can think of for this extortionate price. Has National Express some sort of exclusive deal with BAA to operate this service? If so then perhaps a referral to the Competition Commission is called for.
You should take your short poll with up when you venture to the frozen north for the meeting with your Tory chums. Useful for fending off whippets...
You left Durham Tees Valley off the list (Teesside as was) - I don't use it a lot but like most smaller airports it is better to use than Heathrow etc.
And you did that North and North East thing again.
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