Heathrow Voted Bottom In Twenty Seven Airport Survey
Thursday 3rd July 2008
New figures published by the Association of European Airlines (AEA) has given a damning report on the opinions of Heathrow Airport.
Out of twenty seven airports Heathrow scored the worst which was compounded by it being voted in the bottom five airports for the sixteenth quarter in a row. Recently a Dutch company claimed that delays were so bad at some UK airports that one thousand passengers every day were potentially entitled to compensation of £430.
The introduction of the brand new Terminal Five at Heathrow has done little to improve the airports perception amongst the public, and in fact may have made it worse after the recent problems with baggage system at the terminal.
Figures from the survey have indicated that 44.1% of flights were leaving 15 minutes late and 45.1% of flights were arriving over quarter of an hour behind their published flight times. The figures make alarming reading for BAA as the previous quarter has seen better figures than have just been published. It was noted as well that Heathrow have experienced significant air traffic control delays with 15.3% of flights arriving late due to this issue.
The process of loading and unloading has also come under heavy criticism as 11.1% of aircraft departures that were late appears to be due to this. The only good news for the operator of Heathrow - BAA (British Airports Authority) is the performance of Gatwick Airport that saw departure delays down from an average of 36.4 minutes to 30.2 minutes and delays with arrivals are down from 40.2 minutes to 31.9.
The report is sure to have an effect on a decision by the Government as to if they should end the monopoly on UK airports that BAA currently enjoy. The report is sure to add fuel to the fire for Heathrow Airport's management in their strive for a third runway as they have long claimed that improvements to the airport performance would be forthcoming if a third runway were added. However the opposition to this is strong and many debate as to if Heathrow will be granted its wish.
