Capital Investment Plan 2009 - Heathrow Airport

2 Strategy and Vision
Heathrow Airport is the United Kingdom’s only international hub airport and a vital
piece of national infrastructure. This CIP presents the current snapshot view of how the
premier status of the world’s busiest international airport could be maintained and
enhanced through appropriate infrastructure and other capital investment.
2.1 Vision for Heathrow Airport
At the time of writing this document the process for refreshing the joint vision for
Heathrow between HAL and the airline community has only recently commenced.
Section 2.1 therefore presents the three current wordings for a Heathrow vision.
While there exists a high degree of commonality between the three wordings it is HAL’s
intention to consult with the airline community to achieve a common statement, taking
on board the UK Government announcements on adding capacity at Heathrow made in
January 2009 5 , in time for the publication of CIP 2010.
2.1.1 Output from 2006 Constructive Engagement Process
In the May 2006 document “Interim Results of Constructive Engagement at Heathrow
Airport” the output of the “Vision for Heathrow” workstream was described thus;
“A world class international hub airport
In practice this means the following;
• A full-service, mixed mode, three-runways airport, recognised as both the major UK
international hub and as a world leader in its own right.
• Maintain position of traffic leadership as at present but with commensurate service
levels, to achieve continuous top ten placing in IATA / ACI assessments.
• Designed, built and operated as an integrated transport facility, providing effective
surface access, inter-modality and connectivity for passengers, baggage and cargo.
• Infrastructure, service quality and technology which recognise and respond to
travellers’ different needs to encourage a stress free, positive experience for the
customer.
• Predictable, reliable, punctual, cost-effective operations, meeting airline growth
assumptions but not at the expense of delay, congestion and poor service.
• Value for money for the airlines and their customers.
• Flexibility to adapt to meet market demands.”
2.1.2 HAL’s Purpose and Vision
The importance of Heathrow to the economy of the UK is such that its hub status must
be maintained and improved to a level that is at least equivalent with it’s European
competitors. This needs to be achieved through the delivery of excellent passenger
experiences and the development of new capacity and service improving infrastructure.
HAL has a stated desire to deliver operational improvement through a structure of
deliverable and tangible targets. To that end HAL refreshed its purpose and vision
statements to;
5
Department for Transport publication “Adding Capacity at Heathrow: Decisions Following
Consultation”, dated January 2009. (Herein after referred to as the Government decision.)
Internal File Name: 0903XX-CIP 2009 Main Document-V71-IG 3