British Airways (Other OTC: BABWF.PK - news) would not move to a Thames Estuary airport unless Heathrow was closed by the Government, Willie Walsh has said.
The chief executive of BA-owner International Airlines Group said he did not believe the £50bn project £20bn for the airport and the rest for related infrastructure could be financed.
He also doubted whether the Government had the courage to close Britain's main airport, a move that would cause unprecedented social and economic upheaval.
Heathrow employs 76,600 people and supports a total 114,000 jobs locally.
"Would you put £50bn into it unless you knew Heathrow is going to close? I don't think you would," said Mr Walsh in an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph .
"The only way you are going to get a return on your investment is to know that planes are going to fly in there. If you've got the current users of Heathrow saying, 'we're not going to fly in there' you risk building a huge white elephant."
London Mayor Boris Johnson, who has championed a scheme dubbed "Boris Island", said that with "political will" it could be built in six years with the costs of the airport element met by private finance.
But Mr Walsh said: "Even if you build it, you've got no return unless you close Heathrow."
He said for the Government to go from having no aviation policy "to that scale of ambition, I don't think is possible".
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