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From bad to worse at Heathrow
Posted by Mark 30 August 2007
It is simply unbelievable that BAA are planning to slash thousands of jobs at a time when they are coming under massive criticism for being severely under-staffed. The chaos at Heathrow in particular is damaging Britain's national interests as a travel hub and as a tourist destination. Is there any connection to that and the fact that BAA is owned by a Spanish company?
Ferrovial are reported to have taken on a huge burden of debt when they bought BAA last year and they are now claiming they took over an inefficient business that needs restructuring. This is bad news at a bad time. There is no doubt Heathrow needs thousands of more staff to handle the extra workload, the present service is unacceptable at all levels, so why sack thousands now?
Retraining would make a lot more sense if they really do have surplus staff elsewhere. It costs money to sack people, and more money to hire them, so why jump through that hoop, unless, of course, they have no intention of taking on extra staff in areas they are so desperately needed. That means things will only get worse, and they know it.
In the light of speculation that the airport may be renationalised, there remains the possibility they are deliberately running it down in order to force the government's hand and recoup some of their losses from the taxpayer.
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