BRITISH Airways has warned Manchester Airport that it is facing a summer of chronic congestion next year.
The airport’s biggest client made the claim after the opening of the £172m second runway was delayed until at least August – three months after initially planned.
BA regional commercial director David Ranger said peak time slots are increasingly difficult to come by as the airport continues its rapid expansion.
Ranger said: “We used to have peaks in the morning and evening, but now they are in the middle of the day as well. We were slightly constrained this summer, but next year it will be very difficult to get slots for good operations.”
He predicted growth at Manchester will slow down in 2000 due to the slots problem. The airport has been enjoying 1m extra passengers each year to give it 18m a year currently.
Ranger said the opening of the second runway will help to ease the congestion, but it will be summer 2001 before growth continues to match present levels.
Next year, BA will add Nice and Lyons to its Manchester network and is planning up to two more new routes. Destinations and start dates have yet to be revealed.
The slot dilemma will pose problems for BA and British Midland as both attempt to set up hubs at the airport.
A spokeswoman for Manchester Airport agreed it was difficult to balance airlines’ requirements for peak time slots, but efforts were being made to satisfy demands for the summer.
She said: “We are doing the best we can with the existing runway. We expect that between now and the summer the slot co-ordinator will meet airlines to hear what their requirements are.”
She added that at least two extra peak slots have been found to provide up to 50 take-off and landing slots in peak hours.
n BA is cutting the Manchester stop out of its thrice-weekly Heathrow-Manchester-Islamabad service in March due to poor business-class loads. The airline is replacing it with a non-stop Heathrow-Islamabad service using more efficient Boeing 777s instead of B747s.