Ryanair downbeat on prospects for British Airways Gatwick revamp

Ryanair CE Michael O’Leary gave a downbeat assessment of the short-haul subsidiary BA may create, questioning in particular its choice of London’s Gatwick airport as a hub. The WSJ reported last week that BA was considering folding its short-haul operations at Gatwick into a new unit. The company said it was working on options for the operations to curb costs, but did not specify what its proposals were. O’Leary said he did not hold out much hope for what he described as British Airways’ umpteenth go at creating a low-cost carrier. “If you were going to open up a low-cost carrier, the one airport in London you wouldn’t go to would be Gatwick,” he said, adding it was London’s second most expensive airport. “If you’re going to open up a low-cost carrier, you’d go to Stansted or Luton or Southend, which has lots of cheap, low-cost and underused facilities,” he said. O’Leary said the company would fare better pocketing a lot of money by selling Gatwick slots to the likes of Wizz Air or easyJet.<br/>