The head of British Airways’ parent company was shocked when he came to know that his companies’ multi-million-pound offices needs to be demolished for building the third runway at Heathrow. Chief executive Willie Walsh was alarmed to see the map and its consequences. British Airways is the biggest customer at Heathrow and its owner company IAG is responsible for around half of the flights at the airport.
Willie Walsh stated in one of his statements that they were never informed or advised by Heathrow that they intended to knock down our headquarters. When the Airport Commission report came out, that was the first time when he saw it and found that it looks very close to the Waterside which was then discovered that it’s actually right through Waterside.
IAG and British Airways are based in a business complex in Harmondsworth that was constructed in 1998 for £200m. Sitting in a 115-hectare man-made park, the office space is equipped with its own travel centre, beauty salon, 400-seater auditorium and Waitrose supermarket.
Mr Walsh fears IAG will effectively have to pay for the demolition of its own HQ, since although the properties cleared to make way for the runway will be bought for 25 per cent more than their market value, airlines are likely going to have to pay far more to the Civil Aviation Authority to compensate for the expansion costs.
The decision to expand the airport at Heathrow in October caused uproar among environmental campaigners and residents in the area. Almost 4,000 residents in the area could lose their homes with the expansion into effect.
But High Court challenges could yet derail the decision, and the razing of Harmondsworth – along with British Airways’ HQ – is unlikely to start before 2020.
