Heathrow boss blasted for holiday flights farce

Ex-BA chief Willie Walsh piles the pressure on John Holland-Kaye, claiming airport was ‘unprepared’

THE former chief executive of British Airways owner IAG has slammed the boss of Heathrow airport for his failure to cope with a surge in demand this summer, describing the situation as ‘farcical’.

Willie Walsh told The Mail on Sunday he has no sympathy for airport chief John Holland-Kaye as holidaymakers prepare to jet off for their summer breaks.

He said the airport ‘should have been better prepared’ and ‘clearly can’t cope’ with the rise in demand.

Walsh stopped short of calling for top bosses at the debt-laden airport to be sacked over the crisis. But he added: ‘If we are in the same position next year, then without question people should be fired.’

He made his comments amid calls for Holland-Kaye to find a better solution to the issue. He has been given an ultimatum by the Department for Transport to draw up a ‘credible’ plan to end the continuing travel trouble.

But the condemnation by Walsh, one of the most powerful figures in the industry and who now represents a group of the world’s largest airlines, will pile further pressure on Holland-Kaye and the airport’s foreign investors.

Heathrow last week told airlines to stop selling tickets for summer and imposed a new daily limit of 100,000 passengers until September. It said the cuts would keep service at an acceptable level as long queues, baggage delays and cancellations have left the airport in chaos.

Walsh – who runs IATA which represents hundreds of airlines including British Airways, American Airlines and Virgin Atlantic – told the MoS: ‘I think they should have been better prepared. It is farcical imposing these restrictions at the last minute on airlines when in many cases they have sold tickets. It is a terrible way of doing business.’

Walsh also backed up comments by the Civil Aviation Authority that Heathrow investors – the Spanish giant Ferrovial and the Qatar Investment Authority – may now need to stump up cash.

‘The shareholders are extremely rich,’ he said. ‘They have done extremely well out of Heathrow. I think there is a strong case that has been made that, if Heathrow’s balance sheet needs to be repaired, the first place it should go now is to its shareholders.’

The world’s largest airline Emirates has also criticised the passenger cap, describing the dire situation at the airport as ‘Airmaggedon’.

Holland-Kaye said the unprecedented measure was vital after ‘40 years of passenger growth in just four months’ with some of its critical functions still ‘significantly under-resourced’.

On Friday, he was told by Ministers to say how he would solve Heathrow’s issues, particularly security screening and helping disabled passengers.

Disruption is set to continue at Heathrow this week as staff at one of the airport’s key refuelling companies prepare for a three-day strike which will affect major airlines including Virgin Atlantic, Delta and KLM.

It is understood many in the industry are speculating Holland-Kaye is running out of time to solve the crisis.

The problems have shifted focus to the airport group’s stretched balance sheet. The Mail on Sunday has found that Heathrow’s parent company paid no corporation tax in five of the last ten years of its operation.

An investigation into its finances over the past decade show the airport paid out roughly £10billion in ‘finance costs’ –

largely to service its vast £15billion debt. Such payments can significantly reduce profit at indebted companies and, therefore, count as corporation tax liabilities. At the same time it paid dividends of about £4 billion. Analysis of Heathrow’s company filings reveal that Holland-Kaye was paid almost £10million since 2018, with his pay rising by £700,000 to £1.5million last year. A Heathrow spokesman said the firm is ‘one of the largest taxpayers in the UK, contributing £210million of tax in 2021’.

It said its tax contribution over the past six years ‘exceeds £1.7billion’ – including £762million in business rates.

But MP Ruth Cadbury, who is on the Parliamentary Transport Committee, said Heathrow’s finances ‘need looking at’. She said: ‘You can be a company in debt, pay your shareholders and the taxpayers get nothing. Yet ordinary people are having to face a National Insurance rise. That is shocking.’

Walsh added that Heathrow’s ‘mindset was all driven around economic regulation and not looking after the customer’.