Saturday April 12, 02:54 PM
Heathrow chaos 'losing business' for London, admits minister
LONDON (AFP) - The shambles at Heathrow Airport's new Terminal 5 has damaged the capital and is costing the city international business, the minister for London said in a newspaper interview Saturday.
Heathrow's operator BAA had to take responsibility for London's lost business resulting from the turmoil, Tessa Jowell told the Financial Times.
The new 5.6-billion-euro (4.3-billion-pound) terminal at the world's busiest international passenger airport was hailed as the troubled airport's saviour when it opened amid great fanfare on March 27.
But problems with the baggage handling system immediately led to chaos, with thousands of passengers losing their bags and hundreds of flights delayed or cancelled.
"Conditions at Heathrow have damaged London," Jowell said.
"If you're viewing the prospect of coming to London for business... you may just simply roll it all up into the trouble you expect when you get to Heathrow.
"BAA has to be responsible in a sense for every bit of lost business to London from people making that kind of decision (not to come to the Britain).
"Provided the problems are resolved and don't recur, then I think that over time people will forget this pretty disastrous first month."
However, she warned of "the risk to London's economy of failure to sort out Heathrow.
"And I don't just mean in terms of it becoming a functional airport, but an airport that is, as some European airports are, a positive pleasure to arrive in."
"Confidence in Heathrow is absolutely critical," she added.
"The global markets are unforgiving, and the business that we're trying to attract from around the world is highly mobile."
Jowell dismissed suggestions that London's creaking transport system meant the city could no longer function effectively.
"That is the very worst perception on a bad day," she told the business daily.
"There are Monday morning problems, there may be wet Friday afternoon problems, and nobody would be for one moment complacent about those, but the fact is that London is one of the most attractive cities in the world to do business in.
"Actually, the Tube (Underground railway) does work, and the upgrade programme is going ahead," however, "congestion is certainly still a problem in London," she admitted.
The authorities need to address "structural weaknesses, lack of skills and inadequacy of infrastructure," she added.
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