Heathrow airport has warned that Britain could lose its international crown as home to the biggest airport for international traffic in Europe to Holland, within the next 10 years.
Its CEO John Holland-Kaye said the UK “should hang its head in shame” if it lets slip the competitive advantage it currently enjoys over other rival airports around the world.
He said with UK businesses trading 20 times more with emerging markets that have daily direct flights, than those with less frequent or no direct service, it needs more flights to more cities than France, Germany and the Netherlands to win the race for jobs and growth that will “otherwise go to international competitors”.
The warning comes as the Airports Commission is set to launch its 12 week consultation into the shortlisted options for increased airport capacity in the UK. It’s deciding between an extra runway at Gatwick or Heathrow with a decision expected summer 2015.
Heathrow said recent traffic figures from each airport show while four are recording increases in international passenger traffic the UK’s hub is showing the slowest rate of growth.
Paris has increased most quickly in the 12 months since August 2013, up 4 per cent, followed by Amsterdam (3.8%), and Frankfurt (3.1%). Heathrow showed the lowest growth rate, at 2.1 per cent and said “this is entirely based on higher load factors and larger aircraft”.
Heathrow airport CEO John Holland-Kaye said a lack of capacity is hurting the UK economy. “Britain benefits from having the biggest international hub airport in the world, one of only six airports in the world with more than 50 regular long-haul flights,” said Holland-Kaye.
“Heathrow gets British business people and their exports to the world’s growing economies – but lack of capacity at Heathrow means we are being overtaken by we are being overtaken by our European competitors – they are taking the growth that should be ours. Britain could and should win the race for growth.
“With the Airport Commissions’ consultation imminent, we can’t sit idly by and hope the right decision is made. It’s time to speak out in support of our hub. It’s time to respond to the consultation. We should hang our heads in shame if we let slip the competitive advantage handed down to us by previous generations.”