The Heathrow CEO revealed that he has a desire to retire after managing the airport for six years. Mr. Mathews said that he knows that the time is right for someone else to take over. He joined Heathrow in March 2008, a time when there was a shambolic opening of terminal 5. He has overseen great and commendable projects in the busy airport over the years.
Mr. Mathews is known to be the man who restored Heathrow’s reputation making it a well known international getaway. Under his leadership, statistics show increased customer satisfaction, increased number of passengers who use the airport and more passengers rating their flights to and from Heathrow as excellent. During his tenure he established Terminal 5 which is now considered one of the finest airport terminals in the world. He however was faced with a big challenge in 2009 December when snow paralyzed operations at the airport and he had to preside over a public relations campaign.
The CEO confirmed that he will indeed leave when terminal 2 will be officially opened in June. Speaking at the British chambers conference he said that the new runway will take some time for it to be completed and it would be proper if someone else took over to the next phase and oversee it to the end. Heathrow’s chairman Sir Nigel Rudd commended Mathews for the great job he had done at the airport. He said that Matthews had improved the standards and customer experience at Heathrow.
Overseeing the expansion of Heathrow airport will be one of his successor’s big challenges. Another one will be to minimize disruptions at the airport. A new runway will definitely increase activities at the airport making it vulnerable to disruptions. The other one will be to keep everybody happy starting with the airlines, to staff, passengers and even shareholders.