Walsh doubts Boris Island can be built; BA will not move
21.01.12
Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways parent IAG, told the Telegraph newspaper that he is 'far from convinced' that a new airport in the Thames Estuary will ever be built, despite the Government's 'belated enthusiasm' for a formal consultation on a project - announced this week - that is estimated to cost £50bn. He also said that BA would not move from Heathrow to the new airport.
Mr Walsh said: ‘I don't think it can be financed. If I throw my weight behind it, people will expect me to be part of the solution financing it and I won't. The only way you'd make it financially successful is say you're going to build it and, as part of that, you're going to close Heathrow. If you leave Heathrow open and you build this new airport, we're going to stay at Heathrow.’
‘Why would we move? Look at how much has been invested in Heathrow, look at the location. Heathrow is a global brand. Go anywhere in the world, they will have heard of Heathrow. Go to China, anywhere in China, they'll have heard of Heathrow.’
‘Kuala Lumpur built a new airport and shut down the old one. Then people realised all the businesses [near] the old airport left and you had people saying 'can't you reopen it'. Think of all the business built up around Heathrow. There are thousands of people who have located close to Heathrow because that's where their business is. If you shift that business away, there's a massive impact.’
'Would the Government have the guts to risk that? Well, they haven't demonstrated it. They haven't demonstrated they have any ambition or any policy. To go from no policy, no ambition, to that scale of ambition I don't think is possible.’
So would he be pretty reluctant to leave Heathrow, the newspaper asked? ‘Not pretty reluctant. We wouldn't leave. If others left we'd have Heathrow to ourselves. That would be fantastic. BA won't leave, so other airlines won't leave either.’
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