Richard Branson's promotion of biofuels is a PR stunt and green taxes on aviation are pure opportunism according to the chief executive of British Airways.
As the Queen unveiled Heathrow's £4.3bn Terminal 5 for BA's exclusive use, Willie Walsh warned there was no credible alternative to carbon-based fuels for airlines and insisted that taxing the industry would not help curb climate change.
"I recognise that we are a polluter. I recognise equally that we don't have an alternative to kerosene and carbon-based fuels at this point," he told the Guardian.
Asked about Branson's embrace of biofuels - last month flying a Virgin Airways 747 to Amsterdam with one of four main tanks carrying a 20% mix of coconut and babassu oil - Walsh said: "Saying there is a biofuel available is, to me, a bit of a PR stunt. I won't say [biofuels are the answer] because I don't believe it's true."
Walsh, who became BA chief in 2005, said the industry's target of using 10% biofuel by 2017 was "a reasonable ambition" but echoed green campaigners in questioning the implications of a widespread move to biofuel.
He also criticised Gordon Brown for doubling air passenger duty (APD) when he was chancellor and failing to invest this green tax windfall in finding alternative fuel sources for aviation.
"The right way forward is the inclusion of aviation in emissions trading. When Gordon Brown announced that he was doubling APD, raising an additional billion pounds from the industry, I saw it as pure opportunism: taxation on the back of the environmental issue ," he said.
Walsh welcomed Terminal 5 which can handle 30m passengers each year but warned Heathrow needed a third runway and dismissed the case for a new airport in the Thames Gateway as "fantasy land".
guardian.co.uk © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2008
