Heathrow: Address spare capacity before building more runways - 4 borough letter in today's Evening Standard

Sir

BAA continue to put their efforts into proving that Heathrow is past its sell by date and incapable of serving the needs of the UK economy without further expansion.

Of course the company has a powerful vested interest in crowding yet more flights into their one London airport.

But don't let's confuse this with the quite separate issue of what kind of airport capacity and connectivity the UK economy actually needs.

History shows that Heathrow's demand for growth is insatiable. If BAA get their way over a third runway, how long before they come back for a fourth or a fifth?

Just how incessant does the noise have to be over south and west London and for how many more years do local communities have to suffer air pollution levels that are not tolerated in the rest of Europe before BAA  concede that its prized possession is simply in the wrong place?

As the Coalition Government prepares to consult on ways of addressing capacity that do not involve heaping yet more noise misery on Londoners, it's worth putting BAA's claims under the microscope.

Business passengers account for less than a third of those flying in and out of Heathrow. And while we hear much about the need to serve the emerging markets in the Far East it's still far too tempting for the airport to simply add more flights to the same money-making destinations - New York for example still has 50 flights a day even though the aircraft fly with a quarter of the seats empty.

Too often we are led to believe BAA's interests are synonymous with those of the wider UK economy. But other airports are just as keen and able to serve those key markets in the Far East - not least Gatwick which has around 25 per cent unused capacity on its single runway.

There's plenty of scope at Heathrow for more business traffic and more services to the Far East - but only if BAA are prepared to tackle levels of under-occupancy of up to 46 per cent on some popular routes - and to start prioritising new routes to new markets at the expense of some of the lucrative old favourites.

Yours

The Leaders of Wandsworth, Hounslow, Richmond and Hillingdon Councils