My Letter in Times re Heathrow and some others

 
Sir, You appear to be trying to relaunch the failed campaign to expand Heathrow Airport.
People in Hounslow want the aviation industry to be successful — many work at Heathrow or depend on it economically — but we do not want the airport to consume us.
Aircraft noise already makes Hounslow the noisiest London borough. We will not allow it to be increased even further.
Your reports set out a questionable economic case for more aviation, then systematically eliminated all the potential sources of additional capacity, leaving the impression that only expansion at Heathrow would solve the problem of congestion and avoidable carbon emissions. The case for low-carbon alternatives such as high-speed rail was hardly explored.
We are ready for a rational dialogue with the aviation industry but we will fight vigorously against any renewed attempt to pressurise the Government into abandoning its moratorium on Heathrow expansion.
Councillor Ruth Cadbury 
Deputy Leader, London Borough of Hounslow


John
 
Our correspondents disagree on the best way forward for aviation in the UK, although most concur that it plays a key part in the economy
Sir, Heathrow is so overloaded that airlines are talking about leaving Britain (“Airlines plan flight from Britain”, June 28). No wonder, when the same airlines insist that almost all flights from other UK airports route via Heathrow or another London airport. If the airlines offered more direct flights from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Liverpool there would be fewer passengers transiting London and more space for those who need to.
I. Young 
Edinburgh
 
Sir, You quote Theresa Villiers, the Aviation Minister, saying that “it is untrue to suggest that Government does not have a strategy to help UK aviation grow and prosper”.
The UK’s Air Passenger Duty is the highest in the world, and is to rise in 2012. The Government’s new Aviation Framework won’t be consulted upon and implemented until April 2013, meaning the UK will have gone 35 months without a policy — costing jobs, business growth and international connectivity in the meantime.
Darren Caplan 
Chief Executive, Airport Operators Association
 
Sir, John Stewart of HACAN Clear Skies (“Veto will not harm the economy”, June 28) is wrong to say that a block on expansion at Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted will not hurt the economy. Heathrow serves as the UK’s only hub airport and it is full. As a result, it has been losing routes to rivals for the past 20 years — it serves just 171 destinations compared to Amsterdam with 222, Paris with 223 and Frankfurt with 262, all of which have room to grow at our expense. Even more worryingly, our potential to trade with such important economies as Brazil, Russia, India and China is threatened by the UK’s inability to expand its hub airport. China will build 97 airports by 2020. By contrast, no full-length runway has been built in the South East of England since the war.
At a time when the UK economy needs all the help it can get, it seems perverse to signal that London is closed to new business.
Simon J. L. Buck 
Chief Executive, British Air Transport Association
 
Sir, John Stewart is misleading when he argues that our economy is not dependent on airport expansion in the South East. Aviation is a substantial net contributor to the Exchequer — even more than the much-vaunted bank levies. It supports the employment of 1.5 million people. It pays for all its own vehicles, airports, policing, security and terminals — even its regulator, the CAA, makes a 6 per cent return to the economy.
Yet with the decision to abandon plans for a third runway, London Heathrow risks becoming a branch line rather than a major hub.
To make matters worse, the Government’s punitive approach to managing aviation’s emissions means that Air Passenger Duty now acts as a £2.7 billion burden on the industry. That is enough to offset all UK emissions four-fold yet there is no Cruise Liner Passenger Tax.
The aviation industry is committed to improving fuel efficiency by 1.5 per cent per year to 2020, capping net emissions from 2020 through carbon-neutral growth, and cutting net emissions in half by 2050, compared to 2005 levels, but it is still pilloried. The aviation industry can only take so many knocks before the damage is permanent. At that stage, the people who will benefit most will not be the green community but rather our international competitors.
Andrew Brookes 
Director, The Air League
 
Sir, A new hub airport would take decades to be fully operational. Extra capacity is needed now even though it may require unpopular decisions.
We are operating in a competitive market, where talented individuals and institutions are highly mobile. London and the UK cannot afford to stand still while our rivals across the globe are building for the future.
Stuart Fraser 
Policy Chairman, City of London Corporation