The recent Guild of Travel Management Companies’ overseas conference in Marrakech devoted a lot of focus to what was on the horizon for the next generation of business travellers.
However, it was a subject with slightly more immediacy that had delegates enraptured – the need for greater airline capacity in London and the south east, with Heathrow and Gatwick representatives making rival pitches for their own airport’s expansion.
One year from now, Sir Howard Davies’ Airports Commission will have published its final report. While there currently seems to be cross-party consensus on the process and economic imperative to implement Davies’ final recommendations, it’s impossible to predict whether the final solution will be delayed or watered down by politicking.
Nigel Milton, director of policy and political relations at Heathrow, argued that there are 40 further destinations Heathrow could fly to if it had more capacity. Gatwick’s chief commercial officer, Guy Stephenson, countered by stating that his airport already serves 46 of the top 50 European business routes, including 11 domestic UK destinations which Heathrow does not.
Delegates agreed that neither had overwhelmingly persuaded them to back their plans outright, but something that Heathrow’s Milton said perked ears and focused minds: “Since 1650, London has had the world’s most trafficked port or airport until earlier this year, when Dubai overtook it.”
As an island nation and one that depends wholly on trade for a good proportion of our GDP, if ever there was phrase to use as a call to arms for our next government to get shovels into the ground, then this was it. Debate rather than action will inevitably mean that London and the UK economy risks continuing to lose out.