Around sixty business leaders have co-signed a letter published in the Sunday Times urging rapid action on solving the UK’s aviation crisis.
David Sleath, Chief Executive Officer of SEGRO, Surinder Arora, CEO, Arora Holdings, and Baroness Jo Valentine, Chief Executive, London First were among the signatories of the letter, which backed the work of the Airports Commission but raised concerns that “unless politicians act swiftly on it recommendations, our economy could lose out to the tune of billions of pounds in trade and investment”.
The letter restated the facts that the UK trades twenty times more with countries with which we have a direct air link and forty per cent of our exports by value go by air.
It also said that by 2036 the world’s major cities are likely to have built over fifty new runways, providing an additional one billion passenger journeys a year. China alone will have built seventeen new runways, whilst the new Dubai World Central airport will provide more capacity than all of London’s airports combined.
They urge politicians to commit themselves in their manifestos, prior to the General Election, to a quick decision on airports expansion guided by the Commission’s final recommendation “for the good of the country”.
