UK could lose hub status, warns Heathrow
Heathrow could lose its status as an international hub unless it is allowed to expand, chief executive Colin Matthews told the Airports Commission yesterday.
Matthews told an oral hearing that all five European hubs – Heathrow, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Madrid – were unlikely to survive as airlines continue to consolidate their operations at fewer, larger airports.
As Heathrow’s European competitors all plan to increase their capacity to around 50% more than the current 480,000 passenger limit at Heathrow, London’s premier airport is likely to lose vital transfer passengers to its rivals, said Matthews.
With additional capacity, he said Heathrow could be providing regular connections to 40 more long-haul destinations by 2030, particularly to emerging markets that are important for economic growth.
However, easyJet – which says it now carries more passengers than BA and Virgin combined – said there was an over-emphasis on the importance of hubs and told the inquiry that aviation policy should not favour hub and transfer operations over point to point.
In her submission to the Airports Commission, easyJet chief executive Carolyn McCall – who said the airline remained ‘open-minded’ about where additional capacity should be added – highlighted the fact that around 90% of all passenger journeys in UK airspace are point to point and at Heathrow fewer than one in five passengers transfer between flights.
She said Luton and Southend could enable 10 million more passenger journeys a year without any new runways.
Edinburgh Airport CEO Gordon Dewar and chairman Sir John Elvidge told the Airports Commission that Heathrow’s position in west London and the density of the surrounding population meant it would be difficult to ever build sufficient capacity for more flights without "unacceptable local environmental cost".
In a written submission, they backed Gatwick’s ‘constellation’ proposal whereby Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted all operate a two-runway model to provide the much needed extra capacity that Heathrow lacks.
Heathrow parent BAA was forced to sell Edinburgh Airport last year to Gatwick parent company Global Infrastructure Partners.
Dewar and Elvidge suggested that the continued concentration of a large number of long-haul services at one airport such as Heathrow may lead to higher fares for passengers. They called for "more competition to be at the heart of good aviation policy, and for the views of travellers and businesses in Scotland to be heard as clearly as those coming from London."
Above all, they urged politicians of all parties to unite behind a long-term aviation policy to avoid the UK falling behind its European competitors.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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