Three more reasons to oppose third runway at Heathrow

1. Davies Commission Hub Fallacy

The Davies Commission report recommends expansion of Heathrow on the fallacious conclusion that because London is an international business hub it needs a hub airport. As a hub airport facilitates flight transfers for people whose destination is not London, the benefits of this activity to London as a whole are limited. It is much more important that London is a widely accessible destination than that one of its airports is a convenient place to change planes. In any event, Heathrow is never going to be as convenient a hub as the larger purpose-built hub airports in Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris.

2. Vulnerability to terrorist attack

Not only is concentration at a single hub airport for London unnecessary, in the present climate it is in terms of national security most unwise. A terrorist attack could seriously disrupt or curtail operations at Heathrow. The more flight capacity is divided among all London’s airports, the more resilient London would be against the effects of such an attack. It makes no sense to give Heathrow a third runway when all the other airports serving the capital have a single runway.

3. Anti-competitive to favour Heathrow at expense of smaller airports

Heathrow is no longer a nationalised industry, but a private sector company; its success should depend on competition with other airports serving the same market. It should compete for traffic with other airports serving the London area, not be given a privileged trading position.

If you agree, please sign the petition.