Eddington goes on the attack over security costs

BA boss says air travellers are being treated as fat cats by politicians

The British Airways chief executive Rod Eddington has criticised governments for treating air travellers as “fat cats” who end up paying for “inconsistent and often unnecessary security arrangements”.

At the annual IATA conference in Washington, United States, Eddington complained that extra security measures have cost the carrier some £100 million – costs he says would be paid by the public if they were for extra security for road, rail or sea passengers.

The Guardian quotes Eddington thus: “Politicians regard air travel as something for fat cats but they see people who travel by road or rail as everyday people. There’s a view that somehow people travelling by air are closeted and cloistered – while in reality, air travel is part of the essential fabric of the country and its economy.”

At the conference, Eddington was named as the airline industry’s leading executive, for demonstrating “outstanding strategic thinking and leadership over the past year”. Judges praised Eddington for giving the carrier a renewed sense of direction, tackling the threat from aggressive no-frills competitors, and turning around the group’s “flagging finances”.