A former British Airways boss has branded further expansion at Heathrow Airport a "costly mistake".
Bob Ayling, who was BA's chief executive from 1996 to 2000, has come out against plans for a the third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow.
Writing in a column for the Sunday Times, Mr Ayling said the proposed third runway is against "Britain's economic interests".
He said: "It is being driven by BAA, the Spanish-owned airport operator, and the misguided aspirations of BA. It is likely, in the long term, to prove a costly mistake.
In his column, Mr Ayling says Government's economic case for expansion is to create a hub airport with a huge number of passenger interchanges.
He writes: "This is a classic exercise in misguided central planning. What Ruth Kelly, the transport secretary and the Government do not see is that the transfer passengers, from 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."
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John Stewart, chairman of the campaign group HACAN, said: "Bob Ayling's intervention is highly significant. For the first time a very senior figure in the aviation industry has said publicly what many business people are saying privately. What they want is for Heathrow to be the best airport in the world, not the biggest."
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