This is what one of the writers of the report by Erinaceous said in his role within the Airport Operators Association:
Noting that the role of the association is to present a case for the entire industry to government, local and national, he said: "The key message that GA has to put to the government is that it is a vital economic generator and regenerator."
The argument is a clear and compelling one. The UK's GA airports provide a vital service especially to commercial, business and executive traffic which, Haffenden notes, is usually engaged in creating income rather than exporting revenue. He uses Shoreham to illustrate his point: "We have an annual turnover of about £2.5m but if you remember that we have 45 businesses on the airport, from one-man-bands to companies employing 50 or more people and we assume that each of these companies has a turnover of £1-2m then it is clear the that the figure for the airport as a whole is £45-90m, a significant figure in anybody's terms." Expanding his point, Haffenden says that it is a ratio that can be extrapolated across the country's GA airports and shows that the sector is a "vital cog in the machine".
"It is essential that government receives the message that UK Aviation is not just about extra runways at Heathrow or Stansted, but every part of the puzzle."
Well done John Haffenden, you speak with forked tongue methinks
Hold your head in shame and don't you DARE associate yourself with GA when you are quite happy to stab it in the back.