BUSINESS TRAVEL EXPERTS CONDEMN
STANSTED'S “SQUANDERED” RUNWAY
The influential Guild of Business Travel Agents (GBTA) has written to transport secretary Alastair Darling, to condemn the widely-anticipated government proposal to site a new runway at Stansted instead of Heathrow.
“Once again, a British government will have missed a golden opportunity to help ensure the future health of the UK economy,” says Philip Carlisle, the GBTA's chief executive.
“Any runway development proposal will run into opposition, but to allow a small but vocal minority to override a commonsense decision which, unquestionably, would be for the greater good is an abnegation of government responsibility.”
For better or for worse, the GBTA points out, London and the southeast has the greatest concentration in the UK of wealth-creating international business interests. For them, Heathrow is the international airport of choice.
Latest figures from BAA plc, which runs both Heathrow and Stansted, show that in the year to the end of October, nearly 63 million passengers used Heathrow. At Stansted, where there is a much higher proportion of leisure and low-cost traffic, there were barely 18 million passengers.
“This is not primarily a local issue, but one of national significance,” says Carlisle. “The benefits accruing from a vibrant and efficient air transport system are not confined to Clapham and Croydon, but have a real and beneficial impact on the country as a whole.”
As part of the government consultation process, the Guild – whose members organise and book the vast majority of the UK's international business trips – submitted a lengthy document in support of expansion at Heathrow.
“There has been considerable opposition to a new runway at Heathrow,” admits Philip Carlisle, the GBTA's chief executive. “However, there is no doubt that it must be the best possible option for the continuing economic health of Britain as a whole
By proposing to site the new runway at Stansted, says the GBTA, the government is endangering Heathrow's position as the world's premier international airport and, more critically, jeopardising the UK's centuries-old status as a major trading nation.
“It is a fundamental tenet of any business that you take new products to market – you don't try to take the market to the new products,” says Carlisle. “This may work economic wonders for Bishops Stortford, but not for Britain. A Stansted runway is a squandered runway.”
For further media information: Vanessa Aves/Alex Kindell, Brighter PR, tel: 020 7603 2168, email: Vanessa.aves@brightergroup.com