BRITISH Airways' former boss has launched a scathing attack on plans to expand Heathrow.
Bob Ayling, who ran the airline between 1996 and 2000, described the proposals as a 'costly mistake' and said they were 'against Britain's economic interests'.
He is the first senior figure from the aviation industry to speak out against the plans, which could see the number of flights increase nearly 50 per cent to 700,000 a year.
His comments are in direct contrast to ministers' claims that boosting the airport's capacity is essential for the economy.
Writing in a Sunday newspaper, the former BA chief executive accused Heathrow's operator BAA of following a 'misguided' business model which had bankrupted scores of US and European airlines.
He urged the company to concentrate on flying people direct to their destinations and to ditch ambitions to make the airport a major transport hub.
"This is a classic exercise in misguided central planning," he said. "What Ruth Kelly, the transport secretary, and the Government do not see is that the transfer passengers, for whom such a hub would be built, spend no money in Britain, at least little beyond the price of a cup of tea, and Heathrow as an interchange is already so far behind its rivals that it is out of the game."
He added that a third runway was needed but would be more appropriate at Gatwick or Stansted.
Since 1992, the percentage of passengers at Heathrow making transfers has more than trebled to 35 per cent.
John Stewart, chairman of the campaign group HACAN, said: "For the first time a very senior figure in the aviation industry has said publicly what manybusiness people are saying privately.
"What they want is for Heathrow to be the best airport in the world, not the biggest."
