FT - Robert Wright
Willie Walsh urges airport to avoid a repeat of this summer’s security and waiting chaos
Willie Walsh, one of the world’s best-known aviation executives, has said “heads should roll” at London’s Heathrow airport if there is a repeat next year of this summer’s long waits and traffic restrictions.
“The problem at Heathrow has been mostly down to Heathrow’s inability to get people through security,” Walsh said at the Airlines 2022 conference in London in the latest sign of anger at the airport’s management.
“People ask me, ‘Are we going to face these same problems next summer?’” Walsh added. “If they do, heads should roll — let’s be clear about that. There’s no excuse for not getting the problems sorted — no excuse at all.”
At the same conference Shai Weiss, chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, called for a comprehensive rethink of Heathrow’s regulation in light of what he said was poor service and high prices at the UK’s only hub airport.
