Senior business leaders wrote today to the Times to say that a third runway at Heathrow is unnecessary.

It is important to understand that many individuals in the business community do not believe that the rationale put forward for the third runway at Heathrow is sufficient to justify the Government's recent decision.

The benefits to business are unclear and unproven. We see little benefit in Heathrow's increased reliance on transfer passengers. A new runway comes with no guarantee of securing a greater number of international destinations or domestic connections. Indeed, the most recent capacity increases at Heathrow that came as the cap on flight movements was raised resulted in exactly the reverse — that is, an increase in the number of frequencies between certain already well-served high-density international city pairs and an overall continued decrease in the number of destinations served by Heathrow. We have no reason to believe this trend would not simply continue with the addition of a further runway.

In a recent independent survey of small and large businesses (Continental Research, November 2008), 95 per cent of businesses — said a third runway would make little or no difference to them.

The quality of life impact is too important to ignore. The Government has already admitted that air quality in the Heathrow area breaches EU standards. The increase in movements and ground transport from a third runway would put people's health further at risk. Climate change cannot be ignored and our approach to transport must reflect the seriousness with which we take our Climate Act target to cut emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. In addition, we must avoid the increased noise and safety issues resulting from an rise in the number of aircraft passing directly over a densely populated city such as London.

Read the full article in The Times.


The DFT and BAA's figures have been proved wrong. The government's "economic case" has been proved wrong. And now their propaganda about business wanting a third runway has been proved wrong.

Heathrow expansion isn't wanted. It isn't needed. It should be ditched, now.