BA says UK must expand Heathrow, not Gatwick

BA CEO Alex Cruz threw his weight behind the construction of a third runway at London’s Heathrow airport and said the carrier is continuing to develop expansion plans even as it wrestles with the fallout from the UK’s vote to quit the EU. With the UK government poised to decide on the location of a new landing strip to serve pent up demand in southeast England, Cruz said Wednesday that the case for expanding Heathrow is “overwhelming” and that any decision to focus growth on the rival Gatwick airport would be “astonishing.” British Airways, the biggest UK carrier, has major operations at both bases. Cruz, who became CEO of BA in April, said Heathrow should not be expanded “at any cost” and that his airline “wouldn’t react very well” if a so-called runway tax was levied against users to fund the plan, arguing that the facility’s shareholders should bear development costs. BA parent IAG has hubs at four other airports so that growth could easily be directed elsewhere, though there’s no question of the group abandoning Heathrow, he added. Despite the funding concerns there’s “no business case” for building a second runway at Gatwick, with insufficient demand from airlines and passengers alike, Cruz said. “That’s why the airport’s two biggest users, ourselves and EasyJet, do not support the idea,” he said, referring to the low-cost carrier that also backs growth at Heathrow.<br/>