Virgin Atlantic has said it will withhold some landing fees from Heathrow as a result of the chaos caused by the airport’s shutdown due to snow and ice last month.
Sir Richard Branson’s airline is not going to pay landing and parking charges due from this month until it sees the results of an internal inquiry by airports operator BAA into the disruption due in March.
Hundreds of thousands of passengers were stranded when Heathrow ground to a halt for several days before Christmas after heavy snowfall and freezing conditions iced up the runways and aircraft stands.
The airline’s chief executive Steve Ridgway told the Financial Times: “We’ve told BAA we are going to hold back some of the monies we owe them. Because while we accept, and indeed we did, step up to our responsibilities to look after our customers, we feel they should also feel some of that accountability.”
The fees Virgin is withholding are said to be less than £10 million, while Spanish-owned BAA’s inquiry is due to be published in March.
Ridgway added: “We want this inquiry to really focus on what happened and when the airport reasonably should have reopened and then we want compensation for all the costs we unnecessarily incurred after that.
“We’re going to do that by holding back the fees we pay BAA and when the inquiry comes out we will happily sit down and work out what the right numbers are.”
Aircraft at Heathrow were grounded on December 18 after several inches of snow fell and temperatures dropped below zero. Heathrow’s second runway was closed until December 21, meaning airlines had to pay for thousands of passengers to be accommodated and rebooked.
BAA, which is owned by Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial, said: “Heathrow’s conditions of use do not provide any basis for Virgin Atlantic or any other airline to withhold airport charges.”
BAA chief executive Colin Matthews instigated an inquiry into the shutdown last month. He also agreed to forgo his annual bonus during the public outcry. British Airways has said the part-closure of UK airports cost it around £50 million.