Regional airport access for the entire UK must be a key consideration for the Airports Commission when the decision on future runway capacity in the south east is decided this summer, a task force has said.
The National Connectivity Task Force announced its findings in a report entitled "Air Connectivity Matters - Linking the Nations and Regions of Britain to London and the World".
London Heathrow suggested setting up the task force in its submission to the Airports Commission in May last year.
However, chair Lord John Shipley insisted the task force was completely independent as no member was paid and it reported directly to the commission.
Addressing an audience of policy-makers, aviation and travel industry representatives and regional and business leaders in London yesterday, Shipley said the runway decision represents a “major rethink” of policy which has “prioritised international air access” over domestic services to Gatwick and Heathrow.
“The effect of the repeated failure of government to make strategically important decisions about runway capacity in the south east over the last quarter of a century and then see them through, is a heavily congested and impaired market which forces UK regions to rely on overseas hubs for their global connectivity.
“The existing UK policy can no longer be defended when there is the prospect of over 250,000 additional take-off and landing slots being released when a new runway opens. Moreover, a failure to act now and adopt some relatively straightforward and low cost interim solutions, would be completely at odds with broader government policy priorities on economic growth and rebalancing,” he added.
However, Gatwick airport, which is campaigning for a second runway and is in opposition to LHR's desire for a third runway, today claimed the report was biased.
A statement from LGW described it as "an exercise in manufacturing an outcome to support Heathrow's third runway ambitions".
The Task Force was established last autumn to focus on the case for enhanced regional air connectivity.