Privatization of Heathrow blamed for the mess [View All]

[emsimon33]

As I sit stranded in London because Heathrow can't seem to deal with the cold and snow, I am pleased to learn that the mayor of London is blaming the mess that has continued at Heathrow on the fact that the for-profit Spanish company that now owns Heathrow did not spend the money necessary to be able to handle weather like London has experienced the past few days.

I hope that the real cause of the mess at Heathrow makes the U.S. press so that Americans will think twice before they sell everything off to the highest for-profit bidder:


"BAA, the operator at Heathrow, owned all the big airports in southern England. BAA’s owner, the Spanish Ferrovial, had borrowed heavily to buy the airport operator. It had big debts to service. Thus BAA shunned investment in basic infrastructure in favour of quick profits. The only real money spent on Heathrow went on expanding the terminals’ lucrative retail concessions...."

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6c2aa45c-0c75-11e0-8408-00144feabdc0.html#axzz18jDgHyR7