BA joins anti-BAA campaign

British Airways joined the campaign to split up BAA's monopoly of Britain's largest airports yesterday, calling on the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to refer its inquiry into the UK airports sector to the Competition Commission.

Responding to the OFT's consultation, which was launched in June, the airline hit out at BAA, warning that air passengers would continue to get a sub-standard service until London Heathrow and London Stansted were under separate ownership.

BA's chief executive, Willie Walsh, said that both airports were in need of additional runway capacity, but claimed expansion had been held back "to suit the commercial needs of a monopoly owner".

"If we had separate owners, you'd have additional capacity coming into the market much quicker," he said.

Mr Walsh was particularly critical of the management of London Heathrow, whom he claimed is offering travellers such a poor experience compared to other large global airports that it is damaging Britain's reputation. "If your first image of London, and of Britain, is London Heathrow - and that's your last image too - it's not very positive," he said.

"If you look at the progress of the likes of Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt and Amsterdam Schiphol - they're much more attractive than Heathrow."

In addition to calling for the forced sale of either Heathrow or Stansted, Mr Walsh said BAA should be forced to dispose of either Glasgow or Edinburgh.

He said increased competition in the market would drive better customer service as well as ultimately help to bring down prices.

BA's outburst follows its criticism last week of BAA over the company's handling of the recent security crisis, which forced the airline to cancel hundreds of flights, and is estimated to have cost BA as much as £50m. Mr Walsh stressed calls for the break-up of BAA were unrelated to the row over security and were part of a sustained campaign to improve standards at Heathrow.