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07.06.04, 11:54
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Star alliance disputes BA's 'preferential' deal
By Kevin Done, Aerospace Correspondent in Singapore
Published: June 6 2004 16:11 | Last Updated: June 6 2004 17:33
A group of the world's leading airlines including Lufthansa, United Airlines
and Singapore Airlines, launched a bitter attack at the weekend against BAA,
the operator of London Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport.
The chief executives of the 15 airlines in the Star alliance have become
incensed by what they regard as their unequal treatment by BAA in its
development of new billion-pound facilities at Heathrow.
The chief executive board of Star, meeting in Singapore, has written to Mike
Clasper, BAA chief executive, to demand an early meeting to express its
dismay with the manner in which Heathrow is being redeveloped. The alliance
believes BAA unfairly favours British Airways, the main operator at Heathrow
that holds around 41 per cent of the total take-off and landing slots at the
airport. The Star airlines control about 25 per cent.
The Star airlines are demanding a guarantee of parity and the provision of
competitive facilities.
Janis Kong, chairman of Heathrow, had been due to make a presentation to the
airline CEOs' meeting in Singapore at the weekend ahead of Monday's annual
meeting of the International Air Transport Association, but the Star alliance
decided, according to one senior executive, "to disinvite her".
The airlines have warned that they reserve the right to take any action,
including a legal challenge in order to resolve the impasse.
The row has developed over BAA's building of a £4.2bn ($7.7bn) fifth terminal
at Heathrow, which will eventually increase capacity at the airport by about
50 per cent. The terminal is due to begin operations in 2008 and will be
occupied almost entirely by British Airways, a leader of the Oneworld airline
alliance, a big rival to Star. It will be the first time for decades that
British Airways will have been able to operate under one roof at Heathrow and
will provide a big competitive advantage in particular for transit passengers
flying on the network.
The Star airlines are seeking a commitment by BAA that it will provide
comparable facilities at an early date through the redevelopment of the
existing central area of the airport and most importantly terminal one, where
the carriers want to be co-located under one roof.
BAA has informed the airlines that it is unable to allocate the necessary
capital to complete the central area project by 2008 and that it may not be
ready before 2011, leaving them at a competitive disadvantage to British
Airways.