UK risks losing hub status, warns Heathrow CEO
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The UK could lose its position as an aviation hub if capacity is not grown soon, Heathrow Airport’s CEO has told the Government.
In an oral presentation to the Airports Commission, Colin Matthews, CEO of Heathrow said airline consolidation and rival airports in Europe and Middle East had led him to mull over the future of hub airports and particularly his own.
Heathrow is one of six airports in the world that has regular connections to more than 50 long-haul connections and with limited capacity is having to compete with not only the likes of Paris and Frankfurt but New York and UAE further afield.
Analysis by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is said to have found the airport could be operating flights to another 20 long-haul destinations if it had higher capacity.
To add to the debate, Matthews told the Airport Commission, chaired by Howard Davies, that its European rivals have plans to develop runways that will serve nearly double the flights Heathrow can currently handle. Heathrow is likely to submit its proposals for a third, and perhaps fourth, runway to the Commission next week.
“These straightened economic times have triggered a global economic race, with both companies and countries competing fiercely. If the UK does not want to be left behind by its foreign rivals, it must have the connectivity to compete and trade on the world stage. That connectivity can only come from a single hub airport in the right place for taxpayers, passengers and business. Only Heathrow can meet all these demands,” he said.
Proposals set by the Davies Commission are unlikely to be implemented until the next round of Government elections in 2015.
Another option?
Heathrow is the UK’s only hub option, but how else could capacity expand? Suggestions have included spreading flights across the south east at Gatwick and Stansted and relieving some flights onto airports in Manchester, Birmingham and Scotland. But this will lose the easy connections that Heathrow and its rivals have. Another option is to build an entirely new airport in the east of London, dubbed ‘Boris Island’ for the Mayor of London’s involvement.
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