Heathrow’s chief executive has told MPs that building a third runway is not at the forefront of his mind, but extra capacity will be needed a decade from now if the country’s economy recovers.
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John Holland-Kaye remarked to a Transport Select Committee hearing: “My focus is solely on protecting jobs, protecting our business and serving the country at the moment; I’m not thinking about the third runway.”
However, he added: “In 10 or 15 years’ time, if we are successful in rebooting the UK economy and getting us back to full strength, I do think we will need a third runway at that point.” The next day, Heathrow was granted permission from the Supreme Court to appeal a ruling from the Court of Appeal in February that expansion of the airport was unlawful on environmental grounds.
John Holland-Kaye was asked by the Committee chair Huw Merriman if Government is doing enough to support the aviation sector during the pandemic. “Aviation is not just some other economic sector; it is the strategic sector for the UK,” Heathrow’s boss replied. “So many businesses up and down the country rely on long haul flights. Many go out of Heathrow to get their exports to global markets and long haul flights bring in critical parts for manufacturing. So unless you get flights moving again – passenger planes with cargo holds – we won’t be able to get the UK economy rebooted.”
He also claimed that his counterpart at Paris Charles De Gaulle airport speaks to his equivalent of the Transport Secretary “every single day” but that was “a very different picture” to his experience in the UK. “France and Germany see aviation as fundamental to their economy and are looking to out manoeuvre the UK,” he added.
The evidence session, held to consider the implications of Coronavirus for the aviation sector, also heard that smaller local airports need more support to recover from the crisis. Regional & Business Airports Group deputy chair Debra Bowen-Rees said that such airports “add a huge amount of economic benefit to the regions they serve” and called for Government to move forward with its promised regional connectivity review.
She added: “Air connectivity is critical to the regions and particularly the peripheral regions where alternative modes of transport just aren’t there.”
(Photograph: Heathrow Airports Limited)
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