In an
interview with the
Financial Times on
29 July, Kitty
Ussher, Britain’s
new minister in
charge of the City,
said that London’s
status as one of the
world’s leading
financial centres
risks being
undermined by
excessive delays at
Heathrow Airport.
According to her,
thanks to mounting
“Heathrow hassles”,
global companies
will increasingly
question the
rationale of holding
their meetings in
London. “I don’t
want [the MNCs’] New
York or Dubai
executives saying
‘Oh God, I don’t
want to go through
Heathrow’”, said
she.
Ms. Ussher’s
concerns come not a
moment too early.
Heathrow is a mess.
Terminal 4, once a
showpiece of
functional
modernity, is
dysfunctional. The
other three
terminals are much
worse off, and in
many places “held
together by sticking
plaster” — this said
by Tony Douglas,
Heathrow’s CEO who
quit two weeks ago.
The first problem is
sheer traffic. On
the date of writing
this column (1
August), between 6
am and 11 am,
Heathrow will have
had 332 landings and
381 takeoffs.
Assuming an average
payload of 200
passengers per
flight with 1.25
checked baggage per
passenger, this
translates to
dealing with 142,600
fliers and 178,250
pieces of checked
baggage just for
five hours in the
morning. And there
is the same amount
of traffic between 4
pm and 9 pm every
day. Heathrow’s
tired facilities
just can’t handle
this sort of volume
any more.
That’s why my
experience at
Heathrow on 29 July
was hardly atypical.
I arrived at
Terminal 4 at 6.30
am from Delhi, to
connect to an 8.30
am flight to
Edinburgh departing
from Terminal 1. Two
hours are more than
enough for a
leisurely
inter-terminal
connect, right?
Wrong. This is what
happened.
The queue for
terminal transfers
was some ten people
wide and at least
150 deep. After 20
minutes, I realised
that there was no
hope of making the
connection in the
usual manner by
inter-terminal bus.
So, I opted to go
through immigration
in Terminal 4,
expecting that the
‘Fast Track’ card
which I had would
help.
Not a chance. The
Fast Track passport
control line in
Terminal 4 was being
serviced by just
three immigration
officers, and was
already backed up by
at least 250
passengers. For
other non-EU
citizens, the lines
were thrice as long.
It took over 40
minutes to get my
passport stamped.
Then there was a mad
rush to get out of
Terminal 4 arrivals,
and on to the
Heathrow Express to
reach the station
for Terminals 1, 2
and 3. It took10
minutes to get to
the station; 10
minutes of waiting
for the train to
leave; another 10
minutes of furious
walking to arrive at
Terminal 1 security;
then a line that
took 20 minutes,
before I was
pronounced safe for
flying. I reached
the gate for the
Edinburgh flight
minutes before
takeoff. Believe me,
there were hundreds,
nay thousands, like
me that Sunday
morning, huffing,
puffing, sweating
and groaning
throughout Heathrow.
The second problem
is baggage handling.
Over the last few
years, British
Airways has
specialised in
losing checked-in
baggage. According
to the Association
of European
Airlines, BA lost 23
bags for every 1,000
passengers carried
during 2006 — which
is way more than the
average of 15.7 for
all European
airlines. At
Edinburgh airport I
met a BA passenger
who was without his
bags for three days,
and finally got it a
few hours before
returning home.
The third problem is
heightened security.
Ever since the fear
of liquid gel bombs
and the more recent
attempt at Glasgow
airport, Heathrow
has probably the
strictest security
protocol in Europe.
That elongates
lines, causes delays
and creates further
hassles.
Finally, British
Airports Authority
(BAA) which owns
seven UK airports
including Heathrow
is a monopoly. And
being one, it has
not made sufficient
investments to keep
pace with the growth
in traffic. Thus,
according to the
International Air
Transport
Association,
Heathrow and other
UK airports owned by
BAA provide
“embarrassingly low
service levels by
failing to invest in
appropriate
equipment and staff
to meet demand.”
All in all, Heathrow
has become a right
royal pain in the
you know what.
Published: Business
World, August 2007
