Friday 10 February 2012

New Thames Airport study

Some 30 years after  the concept of  a new airport for London sited in the Thames estuary was abandoned on the basis of both cost and practicality, the subject has once again reared its head.


The congested nature of London Heathrow operations is always going to  tax  the industry operators. UK domestic services into Heathrow  have slowly been withdrawn in recent years as valuable  Heathrow slots  find more lucrative long haul  uses.

London centric  air transport policies have long been moulding the shape of  the UK air transport infrastructure and result in  the current top heavy solutions favouring the UK south east.

But is Boris Island  International  a solution?  Delivery of this concept  clearly has financing costs of mega proportions

What are the business drivers here? Are the needs of travelling  public at the focus of this project? Is it state pride? Or are we massaging  individual egos who wish to leave a legacy after they have departed, once again  diverting  hard earned public taxes  into  the further development ( and by inference wealth) to  just one area of the  UK  at the cost to other UK regions. What invisible forces continue to influence air transport policy in what is already arguably the most capital centric country in the world?




The manufacturing  engine house of the UK largely exists away from  the  capital  and even the banking  input to  UK business success requires employment  in the hundreds of thousands  away from the 'square mile'.
With objectively good UK regional airport facilities already in place(and paid for) and  a significant proportion of the UK  public  already forced to  utilise London hub airports rather than these  far more convenient regional  airports, why are government looking to further exacerbate this issue?
The customers when asked, identify a preference for  a direct point to point service if available and just require a convenient  point to depart, arrive or alternatively transfer.


With BA all but abandoning  non  London operations  with its own fleet and runway capacity limiting  its further development, what has it got to loose by being confined by existing LondonAirport infrastructure limitations?- a great deal!.

Those in Government argue that  adequate runway capacity is critical  to maintaining London as one of the major focuses of global air transport- why ' London' ? why not  'the UK' ?

Low cost European carriers  have shown they can  successfully   encourage  travellers to   move to  other departure airports using price and departure location convenience as  drivers.

Is it not time to throw the full force of policy behind regional expansion where runway capacity already exists?  And incentivise  use,  if in fact one is needed by discounting regional APD ?

I'm not surprised that Scotland  and Wales  consider the merits of  regulatory independence from  the southern focus of the Westminster decision makers.  Will the West Midlands  and Greater Manchester be the next to declare independence as a gesture to avoid this ?

What do you think?