At the end of the day no-one is going to put money into anything without the guarrantee of a return.
True they will invest in our Airports but my concerns are:
A) They are having to borrow heavily to be able to afford the takeover so they are not exactly going to have loads of money to invest initially.
B) Profits generated by our airports in the future are going to be going outside the country and I don't see how anyone can consider that to be a good thing.
C) All future decisions regarding our major international airports are not going to be made in the interest of this country but are going to be made based entirely on the interests of the foreign owners and thier shareholders.
This is going to go exactly the same way as our water companies who make decisions based on keeping shareholders happy, most of which are in France, rather than creating a better, more efficient system for the UK consumers. This is exactly why profits are maintained yet desperately needed leak repairs are not carried out. Do you think the French shareholders care whether Kent has stand pipes or not?
A few years ago the remains of our steel industry was bought off by a Dutch company, Corus. All they have done since then is bled it dry, shut down steel works under the pretence of efficiency, and taken the remaining profits abroad. That was touted at the time as "Good for the industry" yet this industry is now practically non existant and the Dutch have continued to make money out of it.
I am certain that there is no doubt that this is not in the best interest of our airports, the travelling public or any of the employees who work for BAA. The only people who will benefit are the Spanish shareholders and Spanish construction workers. |