Businesses will face "disaster" under Tory plans to scrap the third runway at Heathrow, the airports operator warned today. Heathrow owner BAA said Tory leader David Cameron "simply doesn't get aviation policy" and warned that the London economy will lose out to the rest of Europe.

The damning criticism came a week after the Tories announced their anti-expansion stance would be a key green election pledge. Airlines are pushing for more slots at the airport, which is operating at 99 per cent capacity, but residents and environmentalists say more air traffic would generate too much noise and pollution for a built-up area.

Mike Forster, R3 (third runway) director at BAA, said the Tories' alternative plan to build more international capacity at regional airports and high-speed rail lines to replace domestic air services "just won't work". He said money needed to be invested in expanding a hub airport like Heathrow, where many flights link up, rather than developing more "point-to-point" routes from airports outside London that are less useful for companies.

He said: "The Tory party simply doesn't get aviation policy. We're trying to engage with them but it's hard. The message we're getting is that they've made up their minds. But we're going to keep pressing them and trying to discuss it with them. If we don't expand Heathrow we will end up with a country effectively on an airline branch line rather than a main station in Europe. Businesses would relocate to growing European hubs. It would be a disaster."

Read the full article in The Evening Standard.


No Mr. Forster, the disaster would be if the third runway went ahead. And what does "the Tory party simply doesn't get aviation policy" mean exactly? The Tory party doesn't agreee with BAA's ambitions perhaps?

This is typical of BAA's arrogance. Anybody who doesn't agree with their expansion plans is wrong.

We've said it before, and we say it again. The sooner this behemoth is broken up and neutered, the better. Then democracy might get a look-in.