Pressure group HACAN ClearSkies, which represents residents under the Heathrow flight path, has claimed that the appointment of BA chief Rod Eddington as a special adviser on transport to ministers cements links betwen the aviation industry and government.”
The annnouncement was made yesterday as part of Gordon Brown’s budget speech yesterday. Rod Eddington, who is due to step down from British Airways later this year, will advise ministers on long-term sustainable transport policy in Britain. He will travel from Australia to regularly advise the Department for Transport and the Treasury on the impact of transport decisions on the Britain’s long-term productivity.
John Stewart, Chair of HACAN ClearSkies, said, “You couldn’t really make it up. I had to check the date was not April 1st. The Government has asked the boss of BA, the main company pressing for a third runway at Heathrow aswell as more extensive use of the existing runways, to advise them on sustainable transport! And he will be travelling from Australia to do so! It simply cements the links between the aviation industry and government.”
Stewart added: “It reminds me of the words of Chris Mullin, a former aviation minister in Tony Blair’s Government:
“During my 18 months as an aviation minister I learnt two things about the aviation industry. One, that it sdemands are insatiable. Two, that successive governments always give way in the end.”
Chis Mullin, former Aviation Minister (1)
Notes for editors:
- Written in a letter to HACAN ClearSkies, October 2002
For more information contact John Stewart on 0207 737 6641 or 07957 385650