BAA chief fights back over Heathrow snow chaos

"You find me another private investor who has maintained a £1 billion annual investment in such a key piece of British infrastructure as BAA has at Heathrow," the airports operator boss said today as he came out fighting in the aftermath of December's snowmageddon'.

Colin Matthews, BAA chief executive, said last year's snow had cost the Heathrow owner £24 million.

But British Airways had a far bigger snow bill at £50 million, while regional carrier Flybe today said it lost £6 million over the white-out.

However, with passenger numbers at BAA's six UK airports plunging 10.9% to 7.2 million in December, Matthews admits he's worried about losing out to other international hubs as a result of the snow chaos.

"We took longer than we wanted to re-open the airport," he said.

"Heathrow competes with Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. Will people now switch to Paris? They might. But passengers are discerning and will form their judgement over time."

"The snow plan was discussed with airlines throughout last year on multiple occasions.

"In the end, the money comes from only one source — passengers — and some carriers said we were spending too much."