Heathrow failing to match competition

02 November 2014

airplane Heathrow Airport says it is having to turn business to its rival airports in France and Germany because it does not have capacity.

Heathrow’s CEO said there is a waiting list of 30 international airlines applying to begin new routes or increase the number of their flights.

But Heathrow is functioning at 98% of its maximum flight capacity already and has long been making its case for the building of a third runway.

John Holland-Kaye believes that Heathrow should play a crucial role in exports and said that it already flies out about 25% of British exports.

Gatwick is also pressing for another, its second, runway. But Mr Holland-Kay said Gatwick’s second runway proposals are “primarily about low cost flights to Europe”, while he claimed expanding Heathrow is important for the future of the British economy.

He said that airlines are queuing up to get access to Heathrow, but are having to launch new routes instead from airports in France and Germany.

Frankfurt airport has three runways while Paris Charles de Gaulle has four.

The debate over the best spot for a new runway is hotting up further as the Airports Commission is set to launch a national consultation this month. Its final recommendations will be announced after the General Election.

Comments

0 #3 Robert Smith 2014-11-03 10:10

As an ex-Estuaryman I am actually quite taken with the Boris Airport option.

Landfill and sea filling was done well for Singapore's Airport.

About 2 km2 (0.77 sq mi) of swamp land was cleared and filled with 12,000,000 m2 (129,200,000 sq ft) of earth from the nearby hills, while another 40,000,000 m2 (430,600,000 sq ft) of sand from the seabed were used to reclaim land.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Changi_Airport

Unfortunately .... nearby is the SS Richard Montgomery - perhaps the most dangerous WW2 wreck off the UK coast. Which, if a plane landed on it might make most of the area a wasteland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery

Although didn't the Norwegians encase in concrete a leaking WW2 German sub a few years ago ?

0 #2 Peter Booker 2014-11-03 08:19

The more I use airports (admittedly my use of airports is not high) the more I dislike the really big ones. It seems to me that the smaller the airport, the higher the passenger satisfaction. Ergo make Heathrow bigger, and I shall carry on using Stansted and Gatwick.

-4 #1 chiptheduck 2014-11-02 21:39

All Heathrow's major & successful competitors are outside the M25 by a decent distance - Luton, Gatwick and Stansted - and it's only another half hour from central London.

A new major airport is necessary at or beyond High Wycombe - unless Boris Airport in the estuary comes about.

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