BA/IAG CEO Willie Walsh Describes LHR As 'rip-off'
#17
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I don't think my violin is small enough in this case. Boo hoo hoo waaaaah.
All the eggs are in the LHR basket through choice, and these fees are being passed entirely on to passengers anyway.
All the eggs are in the LHR basket through choice, and these fees are being passed entirely on to passengers anyway.
#18
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I'm not entirely sure that this is really what he is doing though. I think that what he is trying to change is precisely the funding mechanism and not the cost management or work efficiency. What he wants is for someone else (not least you and I through our taxes) to pay for the expansion that he has been (very rightly) saying is absolutely necessary to the London and British economies!
#19
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17 billion (+ another 5 billion for road improvements) is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on one runway, given the new airport in Berlin cost 3.8 billion for the entire airport.
#20
formerly mattking2000
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Berlin built a new airport on an unused piece of land in the middle of nowhere disrupting (more or less) no one and nothing, but the construction of an additional runway to complement existing infrastructure requires a more delicate approach
#21
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#22
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#23
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The thing of it is that if Heathrow and Heathrow expansion are as economically valuable as boosters claim, the market should be able to bear high landing fees and other user charges that would pay for an expansion without recourse to taxpayer funding. (And before another economist comes along mentioning externalities, I'm not convinced that's a strong argument in this case.)
Walsh I'm sure would love to have the benefits of more capacity at LHR although he probably suspects that the benefit would not be valuable enough for him to recoup the cost if that cost were 100% passed on to users. He's probably right about that, to the extent there are other underutilized airports around London that could capture even more O/D traffic than LCCs already have if LHR's fees/fares become too high. So you can't fault him for "asking" for taxpayer support as he's implicitly doing with his complaint about high user fees. That's not to say the politicians should be gullible enough to fall for it.
Walsh I'm sure would love to have the benefits of more capacity at LHR although he probably suspects that the benefit would not be valuable enough for him to recoup the cost if that cost were 100% passed on to users. He's probably right about that, to the extent there are other underutilized airports around London that could capture even more O/D traffic than LCCs already have if LHR's fees/fares become too high. So you can't fault him for "asking" for taxpayer support as he's implicitly doing with his complaint about high user fees. That's not to say the politicians should be gullible enough to fall for it.
#24
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HKG spent 13 billion to build a third runway by extending the island it's on (through reclamation of 650 hectares), in addition to improving its automated people mover system and increase efficiency of its baggage handling by over 300%. Different countries have different labour rates, material costs, staging/hoarding requirements, ground conditions, etc.
Berlin built a new airport on an unused piece of land in the middle of nowhere disrupting (more or less) no one and nothing, but the construction of an additional runway to complement existing infrastructure requires a more delicate approach
Berlin built a new airport on an unused piece of land in the middle of nowhere disrupting (more or less) no one and nothing, but the construction of an additional runway to complement existing infrastructure requires a more delicate approach
#26
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It is very nearly the entire output of Estonia for one year. Can you image if the whole of Estonian works for the whole year 1.32 million of them beavering away every day and all they managed to produce in that year was one runway?
The cost of this is more than the economic output of 88 of the worlds countries.
And I don't get where the money is going, concrete costs around 120 per cubic meter, if we assume the new runway is the same area as the existing Northern runway at 3,902m x 50m and add 50% extra for the taxi ways etc, that comes out at an area of nearly 300,000 square meters. To cover that in concrete to a depth of 1 meter would cost somewhere in the region of 35 million. I know there is a lot more to the runway and they need to buy an entire village to demolish it but 17 Billion, well that's not all being spent on concrete.
Am I the only one shocked by this number? Or actually shocked that we are willing to pay this amount? Don't get me wrong I think we desperately need a new runway (or two ideally)
#28
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True it was well over budget, but still even after the budget overruns it was a 5th of the cost of the projected cost of 1 runway. I know it is a different location an everything but that is more the the Gross National Product of Iceland!!! On one runway. I can not see how your mind can not be blown away by this.
It is very nearly the entire output of Estonia for one year. Can you image if the whole of Estonian works for the whole year 1.32 million of them beavering away every day and all they managed to produce in that year was one runway?
The cost of this is more than the economic output of 88 of the worlds countries.
And I don't get where the money is going, concrete costs around 120 per cubic meter, if we assume the new runway is the same area as the existing Northern runway at 3,902m x 50m and add 50% extra for the taxi ways etc, that comes out at an area of nearly 300,000 square meters. To cover that in concrete to a depth of 1 meter would cost somewhere in the region of 35 million. I know there is a lot more to the runway and they need to buy an entire village to demolish it but 17 Billion, well that's not all being spent on concrete.
Am I the only one shocked by this number? Or actually shocked that we are willing to pay this amount? Don't get me wrong I think we desperately need a new runway (or two ideally)
It is very nearly the entire output of Estonia for one year. Can you image if the whole of Estonian works for the whole year 1.32 million of them beavering away every day and all they managed to produce in that year was one runway?
The cost of this is more than the economic output of 88 of the worlds countries.
And I don't get where the money is going, concrete costs around 120 per cubic meter, if we assume the new runway is the same area as the existing Northern runway at 3,902m x 50m and add 50% extra for the taxi ways etc, that comes out at an area of nearly 300,000 square meters. To cover that in concrete to a depth of 1 meter would cost somewhere in the region of 35 million. I know there is a lot more to the runway and they need to buy an entire village to demolish it but 17 Billion, well that's not all being spent on concrete.
Am I the only one shocked by this number? Or actually shocked that we are willing to pay this amount? Don't get me wrong I think we desperately need a new runway (or two ideally)
#30
Join Date: Sep 2014
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Posts: 156
The thing of it is that if Heathrow and Heathrow expansion are as economically valuable as boosters claim, the market should be able to bear high landing fees and other user charges that would pay for an expansion without recourse to taxpayer funding. (And before another economist comes along mentioning externalities, I'm not convinced that's a strong argument in this case.)
Walsh I'm sure would love to have the benefits of more capacity at LHR although he probably suspects that the benefit would not be valuable enough for him to recoup the cost if that cost were 100% passed on to users. He's probably right about that, to the extent there are other underutilized airports around London that could capture even more O/D traffic than LCCs already have if LHR's fees/fares become too high. So you can't fault him for "asking" for taxpayer support as he's implicitly doing with his complaint about high user fees. That's not to say the politicians should be gullible enough to fall for it.
Walsh I'm sure would love to have the benefits of more capacity at LHR although he probably suspects that the benefit would not be valuable enough for him to recoup the cost if that cost were 100% passed on to users. He's probably right about that, to the extent there are other underutilized airports around London that could capture even more O/D traffic than LCCs already have if LHR's fees/fares become too high. So you can't fault him for "asking" for taxpayer support as he's implicitly doing with his complaint about high user fees. That's not to say the politicians should be gullible enough to fall for it.