Airlines united over demands to improve ‘negative’ Heathrow experience

Group of 50 airlines believe the way the London airport is run impacts its effectiveness as a hub

Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 complex. Photo: Heathrow

Airlines have criticised negative passenger experiences at Heathrow Airport, quoting long security lines and baggage system failures as key concerns over future expansion plans.

They warned that future investments were being stifled, raising concerns over the London airport's third runway plans. The airlines also said they believe its effectiveness as a hub airport is hampered by the way it is run.

About 90 per cent of respondents to a survey of 50 airlines which use the airport agreed with the assertion. The standard of services and a lack of engagement were among the reasons quoted by airlines for why they believe Heathrow's capability is hindered.

The regulatory asset base (RAB) model used at Heathrow allows it to charge fees to airlines based on infrastructure improvement plans agreed with the Civil Aviation Authority and permitted rates of return for investors.

Heathrow's Airline Operators Committee (AOC), which represents the airport’s airlines and commissioned the research, said it shows a third runway would be “unaffordable” under the current system.

Nigel Wicking, chief executive of Heathrow AOC, said: “Instead of being a source of national pride, Heathrow has failed to modernise and in turn, lets down consumers, carriers and the British economy. Heathrow Airport Limited’s substantial market power has, for too long, given it an incentive to spend inefficiently and meant that it has acted against the interest of both consumers and airlines.”

I just look to the skies and think ‘where do you get these numbers from’

Nigel Wicking,
chief executive of Heathrow's AOC

In response, the airport said it agrees that “adjustments to the regulatory model are needed”, but insisted “airlines and passengers get good value for money”.

More than two out of three (67 per cent) airlines agreed that the airport’s operation stifles their ability to increase investment.

About 60 per cent of respondents believe Heathrow's service levels inside terminals are worse than at other major airports, with claims of long security lines, baggage system failures and poor treatment of passengers with restricted mobility.

Heathrow recorded a 6 per cent rise in the number of passengers travelling through its four terminals last year, to 83.9 million.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves gave her backing for Heathrow's third runway project in a speech on growth in January. The airport responded by saying it would submit detailed plans to the Government in the summer. The cost of the project was estimated at £14 billion in 2014, but this is likely to have risen sharply.

Heathrow's AOC is part of the Heathrow Reimagined campaign, which is calling on the CAA to reform how the airport is regulated.

Among the other organisations represented by the body are British Airways owner International Airlines Group (IAG), Virgin Atlantic and tycoon Surinder Arora, who operates a number of hotels serving the airport.

The campaign claims Heathrow is the world’s most expensive airport for charges, with airlines paying £1.1 billion more each year than if fees were in line with equivalent major European airports. Airlines typically pass charges on to passengers through fares.

Mr Wicking said the results of the survey reflect “the performance challenges airlines have day to day at Heathrow”. He said: “When you look at that relative to the amount we spend at Heathrow, something’s going wrong.

“We’re spending a lot of money. It is the most expensive airport for charges, and yet the quality of service keeps on dropping, whether that’s loss of bags, congestion or lack of availability of check-in space.”

He said New York’s JFK airport offers a “far better experience” because it has refreshed all its terminals within a 27-year period, whereas at Heathrow, Terminal 3 is more than 60 years old and Terminal 4 is nearly 40 years old.

Mr Wicking said: “They’ve realised what they’re sitting on in terms of the asset that is Heathrow, and with the regulatory model they’ve worked out how to make really good money.

“If they can get money on to the RAB – if they get capital spend – they will have a really good return on that capital spend, which is obviously very attractive to their shareholders but it doesn’t drive efficiency.

“Whenever I see another capital plan coming across my table for Heathrow to invest in, I just look to the skies and think ‘where do you get these numbers from’ because some of them are absolutely ludicrous.”

He added: “The [airlines] do want expansion but it cannot be at any price. The current price is already too much. If you extrapolate that to the kind of spend we’re talking about for a third runway and terminals, it would just make it unaffordable.”

Decades of flight: Heathrow through the years – in pictures

Heathrow Airport in London, the UK's busiest, has been a travel hub for decades. Here The National takes a look back at Heathrow through the years. All photos: Getty Images

An Airco De Havilland biplane of the British airline, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, about to leave on the company’s inaugural flight from Hounslow Heath Aerodrome, later known as Heathrow, to Le Bourget, Paris, in August 1919

Waterlogged runways at London Airport - Heathrow's original name - one week before it became Britain's main aerial gateway to the US in 1946

The new BOAC maintenance headquarters at London Airport circa 1955

The air traffic control room at the airport's new terminal in 1955

US film star Marilyn Monroe with her husband, playwright Arthur Miller, after arriving at the airport in July 1956

An aerial view showing the runways in 1958

The arrivals and departures board in 1960

A new airport gift shop, selling items by Chanel, Wedgwood and Pringle of Scotland, in 1961

The Queen's Building and the No. 1 Building Europa at Heathrow in 1965

The Beatles leave Heathrow for Salzburg in Austria, to resume filming of the movie Help!, in 1965

Passenger terminal gates at Heathrow in 1966

Keith Granville, managing director of BOAC, holding up a model of the Boeing 747 jet, with the new aircraft hangars under construction in the background, at Heathrow in 1969

An aerial view of Heathrow in 1970

Passengers boarding the first BOAC Jumbo Jet 747 used for a commercial flight, from London Heathrow to New York, in 1971

Passengers going through the departure lounge at Heathrow in 1973

Concorde takes off from Heathrow on her first commercial flight for British Airways in 1976

Men at work finalising the Heathrow Central underground station before its opening in 1977

Queen Elizabeth II passing though the Tube gates at Heathrow Central station on its opening in 1977

An aerial view of Heathrow in 1978

Passengers waiting near a departures board in 1979

Holidaymakers waiting in the departure lounge at Terminal 3 of Heathrow in 1981

British Airways employees protesting at Heathrow in 1984

Passengers and staff observe a silence in Heathrow's Terminal One to mark the beginning of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997

Rower Steve Redgrave at Heathrow with daughters Sophie and Natalie and son Zak after returning from the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with his gold medal

Spectators watch the last Concorde land at Heathrow in 2003

Fans surround the coach carrying the England rugby team at Heathrow, as they arrived from Sydney after winning the World Cup in 2003

Heathrow's Terminal 2 in 2004

Passengers queue to check in at Terminal 1 of Heathrow Airport during the Christmas 2006 and New Year period

Passengers wait at Terminal 1 on August 10, 2006, after airport security was raised to critical when a terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US was disrupted by police

Planes queueing to take off at Heathrow in 2007

The new Terminal 5 at Heathrow in 2008

Aircraft at Heathrow Airport in front of the London skyline in 2016

Members of Team GB arrive from Rio de Janeiro at Heathrow, after returning from the 2016 Olympics, which saw Great Britain's strongest performance at the Games in over a century

A composite photo shows planes taking off from Heathrow in November 2016. Forty-two planes were captured between 10.17am and 11.17am and a montage was created from those single images

Items are arranged during an auction preview at Heathrow in 2018. The contents of Terminal 1, which closed in 2015, were being sold

An airline passenger wearing a face mask pushes her bags through Heathrow's Terminal 5 during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020

British Airways employees welcome Olympians returning from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021

Travellers wait in a long queue to pass through the security check in 2022

Heathrow reported pre-tax profits of £917 million for last year, up 31 per cent from £701 million in 2023.

In December 2024, French company Ardian completed a deal to become Heathrow's largest shareholder with a 23 per cent stake, while Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund purchased a 15 per cent share.

Mr Arora claimed Heathrow bosses “take advantage of the monopoly” position as the UK’s only major hub airport. He gave examples – disputed by Heathrow – of the airport charging airlines £76,000 to remove three trees, spending £1.1 million on a smoking shelter at Terminal 4, and charging more than half a million each for two disabled toilets.

He said: “We are 110 per cent behind the Chancellor and the government for expansion, for growth, except just a couple of caveats. We must do it for the right reasons, and we must do it for the benefit of the nation, and not for the benefit of lining the shareholders’ pockets.

“We must make sure that we get value for money.”

A representative for Heathrow said: “Every penny invested in infrastructure at Heathrow is approved by airlines and our regulator.

“We agree adjustments to the regulatory model are needed to deliver a third runway, but airlines and passengers get good value for money at Heathrow.

“Our operational performance is good and improving, and the value we provide to airlines and passengers is easily seen by how many airlines want to include Heathrow in their network.

“Expanding Heathrow will drive a further step change and address many of the challenges identified with operating an airport that is already at full capacity.”