A sixth terminal at London Heathrow will be vital if the airport is to deal with the increased passenger volume generated should a third runway go ahead, the British Air Line Pilot”s Association (Balpa) has told the Government.
”Ducking the issue now will only cause a headache later as we have seen so often in large UK infrastructure projects,” said a Balpa spokesman.
In its submission regarding the airport”s future, it also calls for the new runway to be lengthened to 2,200m (7,220ft) so that a larger variety of aircraft can land.
”Once the third runway is complete and the associated infrastructure put in place it will be too late to consider extending the runway retrospectively so this must be addressed at the outset,” said a Balpa spokesman.
”If the UK is going to be able to catch up with its nearby European neighbours and maintain a competitive airline industry then runway expansion in the South East is imperative, particularly at the UK”s premier airport, Heathrow. With only two runways at Heathrow, we are behind Paris with four and Amsterdam with five.”
And while the Association also urges growing air traffic capacity through other developments ” at Stansted, for example ” it says it takes the environmental issue very seriously.
”Pilots are increasingly flying continuous descent approaches ” which reduce emissions - instead of the noisy and inefficient stepped approach,” said the spokesman. ”They are using their professional skills in a number of other ways to minimise fuel consumption, cut emissions and reduce noise.”
” Balpa and British Airways have begun talks with two independent mediators to resolve a dispute regarding recruitment for the OpenSkies subsidiary.
”We hope some conclusion will be reached within a week,” a Balpa spokesman told ABTN. ”Otherwise we move to stage two which is industrial action ” but honestly, no one has any dates in mind for that. We hope we can reach an agreement.”
He said the Easter weekend (22-23 March) is definitely ”not being targeted” for strikes, as some people have speculated ” which could indicate there will be no action at least before BA”s Terminal 5 opens at the end of March.
The mediators are Ken Owen, from the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service ” but he is there as an independent - and Professor John Goodman from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.
”This is not arbitration, it is conciliation,” said the Balpa spokesman.