Final decision needed on airport expansion

Nearly five months have passed since the Airports Commission published its final report and made a clear recommendation to build a new third runway at Heathrow. On the day of the report’s publication the Prime Minister committed to make a ‘final decision’ by the end of the year. With the Christmas recess now less than a month away, that deadline is fast-approaching, and this week MPs will take part in a timely Parliamentary debate to discuss the pros and cons of the Commission’s recommendation.

The case for a new runway is compelling: Heathrow has been full for a decade. Gatwick is already full at peak times and will be completely full by 2020. And with recent reports of surging passenger numbers, all of London’s other major airports (including Stansted, Luton and City) are now likely to be full by 2030 (if not before). So, in a nutshell, without at least one additional runway, London and the South East will face an air capacity crunch.

A lack of capacity is already resulting in Britain becoming progressively less competitive as a global aviation hub. Paris has 3,000 flights a year to China compared to London’s 2,000 and while Frankfurt serves four cities in Brazil, London serves just the two. Not really surprising given these other European hubs have far more runways. Paris and Frankfurt airports each boasts four runways, compared to Heathrow’s two.

With Heathrow providing over 80% of the UK’s long-haul connectivity, expansion of Britain’s only hub is vital to boosting our international connectivity with growth economies such as China and Brazil.

A new third runway is also fundamental to boosting UK exports. By value, 26% of all UK exports go via Heathrow. Indeed it handles more freight by value than all the other country’s airports combined. This resulted in the airport exporting £48bn in British goods last year alone, making it Britain’s most important international port.

Opponents to Heathrow’s expansion cite environmental concerns and the impact expansion will have on local communities living in and around the airport. Yet the Airports Commission stipulated a package of strong mitigation measures to help make life better for the airport’s neighbours and better manage the environmental impacts.

Measures included a ban on night flights, a new “noise envelope” that could stipulate no overall increase in current noise levels, a guarantee to keep air quality within EU legal limits, a £1bn community compensation fund paid for by the airport and the establishment of an independent aviation noise authority.

The Airports Commission’s recommendation therefore fairly balances the need to secure long-term economic prosperity for the whole of the UK, while at the same time addressing the needs of local communities and the environment.

This is why MPs should support the Airports Commission’s recommendation to build a new third runway at Heathrow. However after all these years debating and discussing the issue now more than ever what we need from the Government is a clear and final decision.