From the managing director

As I take over as managing director of BAA London Stansted, one of my first tasks is to review for publication this 2006/07 corporate responsibility report. In doing so, it gives me an early opportunity to declare my own personal commitment to the values of community, environment and corporate responsibility and to leading a team that is dedicated to meeting – and where possible exceeding – the targets set.

This has been a year of unprecedented challenge and change. BAA has changed ownership; increased levels of security are now in place following the major terrorist alert of August 2006; and the next phase of our plans for growth and development have taken shape following extensive consultation with local people and a wide range of stakeholders. Taken together, they have dominated our business agenda in the past year, proving the fast-moving and exciting nature of our industry.

We submitted our planning application to increase use of the existing runway (Generation 1) and announced the development proposal for the second runway project (Generation 2) to be taken through the planning process.

A Public Inquiry is currently underway into our planning application for Generation 1, and we intend to submit our planning application this year for Generation 2.

Despite this, we do not forget the responsibility we have to local communities, to our staff, to our airline customers and to our passengers.

This report details the work we have been doing to deliver on those responsibilities, and success is measured and audited against specific business targets.

We are open and honest in our approach and we share information, and take pride, in what we have done well. Equally, we listen and learn in areas where we can do better, and rigorously monitor our progress too.

We take our environmental responsibility very seriously and Stansted is proud to be the largest UK airport to hold the coveted ISO14001 certification, an international standard for environmental management, a status we have held since 2005. Maintaining the certification is only possible by striving to continually improve all aspects of our environmental management performance.

This will be our last corporate responsibility report that follows a financial year as we are moving to calendar year for all future reporting. I will therefore report to you again in early 2008 on the work we have done during 2007.

I hope you find this report valuable. Your feedback is always welcome.

Stewart Wingate
Managing Director
BAA London Stansted