Heathrow is bad says Mayor- Planes colide

Ken Livingstone: Heathrow Airport 'is shaming London'


Ken Livingstone: Heathrow Airport 'is shaming London'
Ken Livingstone: Heathrow
Airport 'is shaming London'
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Heathrow Airport is shaming London with its poor service and bosses
who must be "out of their skull", Ken Livingstone claimed today.

The London Mayor let loose on the eve of the British Airports
Authority (BAA) High Court battle for an injunction against protestors
fighting expansion at the UK's biggest airport.

All the injunction claim has done is to increase the likelihood of
hardcore protestors invading the planned Camp for Climate Action
protest at Heathrow Airport from August 14 to 21, according to Mr
Livingstone.

He said: "A small hardcore of virtually professional protesters were
planning to do the sort of thing they do at G8 and other places.

"Police are quite good at policing against this. What BAA have done is
guarantee massive coverage of what was going to be a minor encampment.

"Now it will undoubtedly be more larger than it would have been.
Someone there must be out of their skull. The vast majority of people
would not have been aware that this would be taking place.

"As an example of breathtaking stupidity, it could be rated under
Metronet for breathtaking incompetence."

He added: "Certainly Heathrow does shame London. It is typical of the
English short-termism, lack of planning, lack of investment."

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair had assured him that
the police would have it under control.

In the belief that five million protestors may turn up, BAA hopes to
impose wide-spread restrictions across parts of the rail and tube
networks, sections of the M25 and M4 motorways and around the airport
during the protests, Mr Livingstone pointed out.

BAA, which owns Heathrow, will find their plans opposed by Transport
for London (TfL), the capital's transport authority.

Mr Livingstone vowed: "We (TfL) oppose the plans for an extra runway.
We will fight it through every conceivable court in Britain and Europe
and do everything legal to protest against it."

BAA has been stung by criticisms of services at Heathrow including
fears that delays are damaging London's status as a major financial
centre.

Kitty Ussher, the City minister, spoke of increasing disenchantment
among business executives at what she described as "Heathrow hassle"
adding "you spend so much time being processed."

She was backed by the Confederation of British Industry, which called
on BAA to resolve the "current strains" on Heathrow to ensure it
remained a leading European hub.

Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air
Transport Association, which represents the world's major airlines,
said the "unique" screening regimes at British airports "inconvenience
passengers with no improvement in security".

He also accused BAA of "failing to invest in appropriate equipment and
staff to meet demand".

Copyright Press Association 2007.





Millions worth of damage after two planes collide at Heathrow
Tuesday, July 31, 2007


FaresPro Two British Airways jets collided on the tarmac at Heathrow
Airport on Friday night, after one plane reversed into the other
resulting in millions of pounds worth of damage. The airline denies
the accident happened as a result of cost cutting, according to a
report in the Daily Mail.

The incident occurred only meters from Terminal 4, as the Boeing 777
carrying 200 passengers reversed from its gate into the path of
another British Airways Airbus jet, which has just landed and was
awaiting permission to dock at its own gate.

Passengers were said to have felt the full force of the collision
after the three times heavier Boeing plane bound for Washington DC
crashed into the tail-fin of the lighter and smaller Airbus jet
arriving from Zurich, resulting in extensive and expensive damage to
both.

Fire-fighters and emergency crews were immediately called to the
scene, as the airport triggered an emergency whereby forcing other
flights to abort landings until passengers were led off both planes.

The Daily Mail reports that BA staff has since said the incident was
"an accident waiting to happen" blaming BA's cost-cutting has led to
safety breaches becoming more common. The airline denies the charge,
but it has sparked debate within the industry.

"The Airbus which had just arrived from Zurich was supposed to
straight to its parking stand. There was space. But the dispatcher who
gives permission for it to proceed wasn't there. So it had to wait on
the taxi-way tarmac," a BA insider was reported as saying in the Daily
Mail.

'The dispatcher to open the gate wasn't there on time, so the incoming
Zurich flight just had to wait. It's an accident waiting to happen.

"The weight of the impact forced the Airbus to go back about 10ft."

An aviation informant said the damage would be at least in the six
figure sum, possibly seven.

"Neither aircraft will operate until we are absolutely convinced they
are safe to do so," a spokesperson for British Airways said, as
reported in the Daily Mail.

"There were no injuries. Customers would have been seated with their
seat belts on. Furthermore both aircraft would have been moving very
slowly at the time, given the fact they were moving onto and off of
the stands.

"The passengers were disembarked from the aircraft, put up in hotels
overnight, and later rebooked onto the next available service."

The airline insisting it would never compromise safety said it will be
launching an immediate investigation into the incident.

.

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