Heathrow held together “by sticking plaster”
LONDON – Heathrow’s chief executive has apologised to passengers for conditions at the airport.
At times, he said, he saw things in the terminals that made him “cringe”.
Tony Douglas’s remarks came after the Daily Telegraph disclosed that new immigration controls, doubling the time needed to examine individual passports, will mean British holidaymakers could face long delays before being allowed back into the country.
Business leaders and airlines have been fiercely critical of facilities at Heathrow, which handles 68 million passengers a year. It was designed to deal with 45 million.
In a newspaper interview, Douglas said Heathrow was bursting at the seams. “Quite frankly at times it is held together by sticking plaster,” he said.
“The proposition for the traveller isn’t always what we would want and it’s simply not good enough.
The Lord Mayor of London recently warned the UK’s PM-in-waiting Gordon Brown that international executives could take their business elsewhere unless they found it easier to use the capital’s airports.
Heathrow’s Terminal Five will open next March to ease pressure at the airport.
Ian Jarrett
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