LONDON, England – Responding to the Business Secretary’s national productivity plan, Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said:
“The Business Secretary is right – low productivity remains a stumbling block for the British economy. The Airports Commission has been clear that adding capacity at Heathrow is key to boosting productivity – strengthening connectivity for passengers and freight users and driving exports. With £15.6 billion in wholly private investment delivering up to £211 billion in growth and 180,000 new jobs across the country, green-lighting Heathrow expansion will demonstrate the Government is serious about delivering its long-term economic plan.”
After a three-year evidence-based review, the Airports Commission’s Final Report released last week concluded that “providing new capacity at Heathrow would support trade and enhance productivity, strengthen the business clusters around the airport and provide a stimulus to economic growth throughout the UK.”
The Commission also found that:
• The position of the UK within the global aviation market is critical to its economy: it is central to ensuring increased productivity, growth and employment opportunities.
• Aviation connectivity also supports the UK economy in other ways. It drives productivity and is an important factor in business innovation and investment.
• Capacity constraints are therefore increasingly affecting the nation’s ability to travel cheaply, conveniently and to a broad range of destinations, impacting the UK’s hub status and as a result the wider economy.
• A new Northwest Runway at Heathrow delivers more substantial economic and strategic benefits than any of the other shortlisted options, strengthening connectivity for passengers and freight users and boosting the productivity of the UK economy. It strikes a fair balance between national and local priorities. And it is the most likely route to achieving the Commission’s terms of reference.
