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Head Of British Airways Finds Out That His Office Will Be Demolished To Make Way For 3rd Heathrow Runway, And He Gets To Pay For It!

a row of airplanes parked on a runway

The long-awaited and debated 3rd runway at London Heathrow Airport is moving forward.  There are many people who aren’t that thrilled about it.  It looks like you can add Willie Walsh, the head of IAG, which owns British Airways, to that list.

David H sent me this article last night where Willie Walsh appears to have found out pretty late in the game that they’ll be demolishing British Airways’ headquarters to make way for the new runway:

Willie Walsh, the chief executive of BA’s parent company IAG, claimed that despite the group being responsible for about half of all flights at the London hub, he received no formal warning of the proposed demolition.

He said: “We were never actually informed or advised by Heathrow that they intended to knock down our headquarters.”

However, it looks unlikely to stay that way. “The first I saw of it was when the Airport Commission report came out and I saw a map and I thought, that looks very close to Waterside,” Walsh said. “Then I discovered it actually went right through Waterside.”

Walsh’s grievance over his doomed HQ has been compounded by the prospect of being effectively charged for the compensation bill.

The kicker here for him is that he has to pay for half of it.  As Heathrow’s largest occupant, he claims they’re responsible for 56% of the cost to acquire the land the IAG/British Airways headquarters sits on.  And, at a 25% premium!

Willie sums his feelings up pretty nicely:

“We can’t have a situation where I end up paying for the destruction of my own head office.”

The Final Two Pennies

I’m pretty sure I was in British Airways’ HQ a fews years back for the oneworld MegaDO.  It was a nice building, located in close proximity to Heathrow.  My guess is that those folks are going to have to find a new place to house their employees.

You can’t believe everything you read in print.  But, on this one, I think Willie’s kinda screwed.

The post Head Of British Airways Finds Out That His Office Will Be Demolished To Make Way For 3rd Heathrow Runway, And He Gets To Pay For It! was published first on Pizza in Motion

 

6 Comments

  1. I don’t believe this story. Oh, I believe that the quotes are accurate. But I don’t buy the sheer incompetence at British Airways that would be necessary for them not to know where the proposed runway would go — at this point, seven years into the process — and the eminent domain plans necessary to make it happen.

  2. I don’t believe this story. Oh, I believe that the quotes are accurate. But I don’t buy the sheer incompetence at British Airways that would be necessary for them not to know where the proposed runway would go — at this point, seven years into the process — and the eminent domain plans necessary to make it happen.

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