Beleaguered Heathrow chief gives up bonus

Thursday, 23rd December 2010

Heathrow airport head Colin Matthews is declining his annual bonus as he struggles to handle rising pressure over the recent travel chaos at Britain’s busiest airport. Operations are finally returning to normal at Heathrow after several days of chaos.

Mr Matthews is the chief executive of BAA, the Spanish-owned firm that runs Heathrow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow airports. He said he would be concentrating on the job of returning services to normal at Heathrow airport.

Last year, he was paid £944,000 in salary plus bonuses. He said to the press that he had chosen to decline his bonus this year and was focusing on getting passengers moving again and restoring confidence in Heathrow.

Travellers endured several days of travel disruption as snow and ice closed runways at Heathrow and Britain’s other airports. Many flights were diverted or cancelled.

ScotRail has said it is adding extra services on 24 December in case there are further problems with domestic flights. Hundreds of flights were cancelled in recent days between London and Scotland.

Further late services will run between Glasgow and Edinburgh to help people hurrying to get back home in time for Christmas. The Met Office says freezing temperatures are likely to continue through this weekend.

← Snow and cold continue to cause travel chaos in Europe
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