British Airways CEO Sean Doyle.
British Airways (BA) CEO Sean Doyle has called on London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to reduce fees and improve efficiency, saying the UK hub risks losing out to European counterparts.
Speaking at the Farnborough Airshow, Doyle stopped short of endorsing a new third runway—plans for which the UK’s new Labour government is understood to be open-minded about—but said the airport lacks efficiency, which is further exacerbated by the fact it is close to capacity.
“Our stance [on a third runway] has always been pretty clear, which is that we do believe in expansion, but it's got to pass a number of tests—one is sustainability and two is affordability,” Doyle said in response to a question.
“Right now, we operate out of an airport which is charging maybe two and a half times what a lot of other airports are around Europe. If expansion leads to a big escalation in the cost per passenger, I think we will be in a tough situation. We will have new infrastructure—a lot more capacity—but a very expensive proposition. We have to avoid falling into that particular trap.”
However, Doyle acknowledged the potential for improvements at LHR, even without expansion. "I think we could do a lot more to make the airport better and more efficient than today, even if we don't expand. I think we've been very consistent on a lot of those positions," he added.
Earlier this month, the UK CAA told LHR to further reduce landing fees it charges airlines following recommendations from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority. Passenger charges will be capped at £23.73 ($30.67) in 2025 and £23.71 in 2026, approximately 6% lower than initially planned.
LHR had initially sought to increase fees to as much as £40 per passenger—citing the need to recover losses incurred during the pandemic—causing a rift with its largest airline customers.
The airport handled 81.9 million passengers in the 12 months ending in June, experiencing its busiest day ever on June 30 with 268,000 passengers.
In June, French private equity house Ardian and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund submitted a revised offer to acquire almost 38% of LHR, which will see current majority owner Ferrovial retain a shareholding.
Doyle’s comments on LHR’s operations came as BA announced a £21 million ($27 million) investment to fund the cost of training up to 200 prospective pilots. Launched in 2023, the Speedbird Pilot Academy is already training 100 future BA pilots. Funding was in place for an initial 100 places on the 2025 program, which has been increased to 200.
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