Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways' parent company IAG, has criticised the UK's main political parties for having no aviation policy.
He also blamed politics as "the main stumbling block" for a lack of progress on building a new runway in the south-east and that he is doubtful any progress will be made.
Walsh said: "I think you need consensus across all the political parties before you can have confidence that anything's going to be built.
"I don't see any evidence of change in the political outlook. I still think politics will be the main stumbling block."
He added: "We don't have a progressive [aviation] policy because we don't have a policy. I think not having an aviation policy, given the importance of aviation to the economy, is a mistake."
Walsh also dismissed the concerns of US carriers about competition from Gulf airlines (see news, March 26) as "foolish".
He said: "There are many in the airline industry who would like to pretend those airlines will somehow disappear. That’s not going to happen.
"We think they're foolish - they should just get on and welcome the competition."
Graham Smith
