28th Mar 2008 13:38
Ryanair Holdings PLC28 March 2008 RYANAIR CALLS FOR BREAK UP OF BAA MONOPOLY WHICH DELIVERS QUEUES, DELAYS AND BAGGAGE CHAOS AT LONDON TERMINALS Ryanair, Britain's largest airline today (Friday, 28th March 2008) renewed itscall for a break up of the Spanish owned BAA airport monopoly following theshambolic opening of Heathrow's Terminal 5 which exposed more BAA incompetence,mismanagement and gold plating. The security queues, flight delays and baggage chaos endured by passengers atHeathrow's T5 are symptomatic of widespread failure common at many BAA airportsincluding Stansted and Gatwick where passengers routinely suffer long queues atsecurity and passport control as well as repeated baggage belt breakdowns. Thisabject customer service continues at the BAA airports because the CAA'sregulatory regime has repeatedly failed to protect the needs of users because itis too busy rewarding the BAA with price increases. Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary said: "This morning's chaos at Heathrow provides further compelling evidence of theneed to break up the BAA monopoly. We should allow competition between theLondon airports to deliver more efficient facilities, better passenger serviceand lower costs where the BAA airport monopoly has failed. "If the BAA London airport monopoly was split up, competition would deliverbetter services and efficient terminals which actually work as opposed tocomplicated Taj Mahals like Heathrow's T5. It is high time to break up this BAAairport monopoly." ENDS Friday, 28th March 2008 For reference:Peter Sherrard, Ryanair Pauline McAlester/Robert Marshall, Murray ConsultantsTel: +353-1-8121228 Tel: +353-1-4980300 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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