Remember how proud Mrs Thatcher was about BA ? How she draped her hankie over the tail of the plane displaying what was known as the ethnic liveries ?

We were sad and proud the last time Concord flew. People came from near and far and admired just how good our national airline was. Supersonic flights, the only people to ever do that commercially.

After 15 years planning and execution and at a cost of £4.3 billion BA’s Sir Nigel Rudd boasted, “It is by any standard a triumph of ambition, commitment and collaboration. It will breathe new life into Heathrow and put it back where it really belongs - at the leading edge of global travel.”

What happened today was described as teething troubles, but for anyone who has traveled BA recently chaos, indifference and complacency are the everyday values that Forster’s fine design cannot paper over.

I used to travel through Heathrow quite frequently. The staff were demoralised and didn’t care about the customers. After the first few long waits for baggage and the explanation by the BA staff (“See all those people waiting at those three belts. All there baggage is being unloaded from those three planes by four people, of course it will take a long time”) I flew only with cabin baggage. I walked past the piles of baggage and tried to get information on planes - it was actually easier to call someone in Sweden who worked for SAS and get the updates from her.

The last time I was at Heathrow there were piles of bags hidden under the stairs. The problem isn’t the building and it’s not the vision of the managers. The problem is the complacency that exists in the fact that the company is BA and how can we fail not to love it. The needs of the short term shareholders return mean that Willie Walsh has cut costs to the bone. Behind those problems is the sparse manning, arrogance and financial position of BAA in operating the airports. BAA is now owned by the Spanish company Ferrovial which has total debts of £22.6bn, that’s more than £1bn a year just in interest payments.

With 2012 around the corner our airports will come under even more strain. Let’s hope that this complacent view of life and business changes soon.