PLANS for a high speed rail link between Heathrow and Gatwick airports have received a bleak reception from the chief executive of British Airways.
Willie Walsh said the proposal, which is said to be under development by the Department for Transport, would face 'significant challenges'.
An outline of the DfT's 'Heathwick' proposal emerged over the weekend of 8-9 October, and is said to have been costed at £5 billion. Detailed proposals are due to be published in 2012 as part of the government's next review of aviation policy, it is reported.
But Mr Walsh, who is chief executive of BA's owner International Airlines Group, warned that shelving the plan for an airline-funded third runway at Heathrow will be seen to be a 'huge mistake' in years to come, according to Reuters.
Mr Walsh also said a high speed rail link between Heathrow and Gatwick, effectively creating a super airhub, was not the answer.
He continued: "It is sub-optimal, it is not an efficient way of doing things.
"I don't know how long it would take to develop, I don't know how much it would cost. It would clearly be significantly greater than the previous options that have been rejected. I struggle to see how it would be funded.
"The beauty of the third runway at Heathrow was that it was very clear who was going to fund it. It was going to be funded by the airlines flying in there.
"Who is going to fund a high-speed rail link between Heathrow and Gatwick? The airports are not owned by the same owner any more. Is it going to come from the taxpayer? I'm not sure the taxpayer would welcome that."
Airports have become an increasingly important part of rail policy ever since the Southern Railway opened a dedicated station for Gatwick Airport before the last war.
After many years of discussion about a rail connection to Heathrow, the Piccadilly Line of London Underground was extended from Hounslow West in 1977, and in the following years new lines were built to the airports at Manchester and Stansted, while the first section of the Great Western Main Line was electrified in the late 1990s for the Heathrow Express service, owned by BAA.
The situation has been less happy north of the border: airport rail links in Glasgow and Edinburgh have both been proposed and, in the case of Glasgow partly built, before falling victim to spending cuts. As things stand, Edinburgh Airport is set to gain a rail-based link when the city's long-delayed but now apparently revived tram scheme is completed.
In England, meanwhile, a new station has just been opened at Southend Airport by the airport's owners Stobart Group, Crossrail trains are due to reach Heathrow in six to seven years from now, and a spur to Heathrow figures in the plans for HS2.
However a plan to connect Heathrow from the south, known as Airtrack, was abandoned by BAA earlier this year, although two platforms have been provided for such a service within the newest Heathrow station, serving Terminal 5.