CBI backs single UK hub airport

Business leaders have called on Howard Davies’ Airports Commission to back a single UK hub airport when it makes its recommendations next year.

In a report published today the CBI said “hub capacity at a single location” was the “best way of boosting connectivity with new markets”.

The recommendation comes just days before the commission - which has been tasked with deciding where the UK should build extra airport capacity - is expected to rule on whether Foster + Partners’ Thames estuary airport scheme, which has the backing of Mayor of London Boris Johnson, should be included in its analysis of detailed options.

Katja Hall, CBI deputy director general, said: “First and foremost, UK business wants action.  There can be no more excuses – we need to see the Airports Commission deliver a strong case for new capacity and a clear schedule for delivery, and politicians to commit to spades in the ground by the end of the next Parliament.”

She said that “while all airports have a role to play in growing the UK’s connectivity, not all airports play the same role” and hub airports “tend” to “deliver the new connections to emerging markets that we desperately need”.

The CBI report said it was “imperative” that after Howard Davies’ commission delivers its recommendations next summer the government take “immediate” action to allow building to start by 2020.

John Holland-Kaye, chief executive of Heathrow airport, claimed the CBI report “essentially shows that British business is backing Heathrow as the UK’s only hub airport”.

He added: “The centre of commerce has now shifted to faraway cities in places such as China, India and Brazil.  Only Heathrow has the ability to provide the long haul routes that will help our businesses make the deals in those countries that will help the UK prosper.”

But a spokesperson for Gatwick Airport, which is also trying to convince the commission that it should build another runway, said expansion at Gatwick was “the only option which meets all the CBI’s objectives of deliverability, access to new markets, and promoting greater competition”.

But he said the CBI had “chosen not to address” developments in “aircraft technology” and “aviation trends” by recommending a single hub airport.

Richard Gammon, global director of aviation and transportation at architect HOK, said he believed the CBI’s report showed the business group supported the Heathrow proposal, but urged for expansion of both Heathrow and Gatwick.

Gammon said: “Recognising the need to maintain London’s position as a world city and Britain’s long-term economic growth, we are delighted to see the CBI’s support for the expansion and development of a single, larger hub airport at Heathrow.”

“Whilst Heathrow undoubtedly provides the most sensible choice to address the short-medium term needs, we would also strongly encourage the Commission to look much further into the future and give consideration to the endorsement of expansion at both Heathrow and Gatwick.”

Last Friday, Holland-Kaye published an open letter to Johnson which urged him to support Heathrow’s expansion.

In his letter he said: “If your own proposal for a new Thames Estuary airport is not shortlisted by the Airports Commission then Heathrow will be the only hub option left in the race.”

He urged Johnson to “maintain” his support for a hub airport and added: “Any other choice would be a betrayal of the case that you have made so effectively over the last three years.”

In response a spokesperson for the Mayor of London said the Thames estuary airport was the only “credible option” for expanding airport capacity in the South-East.