Comment: Heathrow: now for new ideas

The new chief executive of BAA, Colin Matthews, has a hard task ahead of him as he sets out the case for a third runway at Heathrow. London First is entirely justified today in branding the appalling customer service at the airport as inadequate for a capital city - but BAA can no longer present the runway debate as a straight choice between what business needs and environmental concerns.

The Competition Commission has decided that it is BAA's near monopoly of airports in the London area - it owns Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted - that is part of the reason for poor service. It has yet to rule on whether a break-up of the company is needed. The Conservative leader David Cameron, meanwhile, has pointed out that providing adequate airport capacity means a better Heathrow, not necessarily a bigger one.

London First believes business travellers would pay more for better service at Heathrow, and that a new regulatory framework - possibly leading to a cut in flight numbers at Heathrow - is required.

This newspaper has argued that runway space at Heathrow could be freed up by planning for the airport to become the premium-priced choice for direct business travellers to and from Britain, rather than trying to attract transfer passengers, who contribute almost nothing to the UK economy.

The near-two-thirds of Heathrow users who are not business travellers could be encouraged, through the pricing of landing slots, to use other London airports or the successful new rail links to destinations such as Paris and Brussels.

These wider-ranging solutions to the problem of inadequate capacity do not suit BAA or BA. But the millions of residents in and around Heathrow who will be affected by increases in noise and pollution from a third runway should not have to suffer just because these two companies cannot adapt. BAA's efforts to rig the evidence over environmental impact did it no favours but it has done well today to admit that it made mistakes over the opening of Terminal 5.

However, the Competition Commission has said the T5 debacle will affect its final decision on whether to recommend a break-up of BAA. The company has more to do if the public is to believe BAA is entitled to expand as it wants.