Member Article

Government must support London airport expansion

The Government must support the expansion of London airports, or risk damaging the economy. a global industry figure has warned.

According to the director general of the International Air Transport Association Tony Tyler, there is a risk that London’s future as a pre-eminent financial centre could be put at risk by “withering connections”.

Speaking at the annual Iata meeting in Beijing, Mr Tyler said: “What is happening in the UK is very sad, because the UK has traditionally played a leading role in world aviation, over many decades, but it is going to see that leading role badly eroded unless something is done about hub capacity in the south-east and that really means Heathrow.

“Why is London such a leading financial centre? There are several reasons, but one of them is that it is so well connected with the rest of the world. As those connections start to wither away because of the pressure on capacity at the hub we will see that getting damaged and of course continental competitors are there to take up the slack.”

In the next few months the Government is expected is announce the results of a long-awaited air policy review, which will include a call for evidence oh hub capacity. Many Conservative MP’s have called for the Government to reconsider its policy on Heathrow expansion, after the coalition said that it was formally opposed to any new runways being built in the south east,

He continued: “It is really up to the UK to take some tough political decisions which will benefit the UK in the long run.

“The problem is of course that there may be a short term political price to pay for what is undoubtedly necessary for the UK to be able to develop in the way it has in the past.”

He went on to criticise air passenger duty in the UK, which he described as the “biggest aviation tax in the world”.

Over the past four years UK passenger numbers have witnessed a small decline, while Germany, France and the Netherlands - which are home to rival hub airports to Heathrow have all witnessed growth of between 2-4%.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .