Airports Commission Discussion Paper 02: Aviation Connectivity and the Economy (March 2013)
MAR 2013 !
...that's about as up to date as the Bayeux Tapestry !
Connectivity to the regions has been mentioned at EVERY single Transport Select Committee Meeting,
every public presentation,
each review since the comission was formed
every press release
AND
is the mantra of both Heathrow and Gatwick adverts......
It is at the absolute pinnacle of arguments to push ahaed with expansion !
It is so absolutely critical that since the mention to which you refer (now almost 2 years old), equal weight appears to have seemingly been missed with reference to the significant increases to other competing hubs from those very same regions !
MAN an increase in capacity to Abu Dhabi by ETIHAD
An annoucement of a return to double daily of QATAR to Doha
A 50% increase to 3 daily by THY to Istanbul , a major hub that should not be overlooked
BHX an announcement of a 3 daily to Dubai
A 100% increase again by THY
EDI new service by QATAR
Announcement of new service by ETIHAD
30% Increase of THY service to daily
One cannot help thinking the data the commission is going to present late 2015 may need , how shall we say "dusting down" !
Unless the committee IS aware and its members are suffering from collective amnesia in keeping its records up to date ?
Such a highly significant trend to use other airports from the regions is surely worthy of equal airtime if they are deemed to be of such importance ?
Bagso, there is nothing unusual in what you report about flights from airports other than Heathrow, it's the nature of the ubiquitous hub and spoke system. The above-mentioned carriers feed their hubs from Ringway (and other airports around the world), just as BA feeds its hub, Heathrow, from airports around the world.
The capacity constraints at Heathrow means that BA can't do this as effectively as other carriers can at their hubs, and as a consequence, the UK is losing market share on many levels, including, potentially, its status as Europe's #1 aviation hub.
It's not just the lack of routes to new countries with expanding economies from the nation's hub. It is also the incomplete nature of the domestic air network and the lack of connectivity to/from the nation's hub, and this where the Airports Commission has an interest.
It's obviously excellent to see that the larger non-LHR airports sucessfully expand their longhaul routes, but it's hardly an issue for the Airports Commission, because it has no impact on the UK's position as Europe's #1 aviation hub.
The Airports Commission's remit concerns the maintenance of the UK as Europe's #1 aviation hub. That means addressing the lack of capacity at Heathrow, and that means expansion there. Anything else (e.g. Gatwick) is a side show.
It
is as plain and as simple as that.
Happy New Years Skip
More jousting in 2015 I hope !
I "think" we are in agreement re RW3 LHR although would have still preferred a new 4 runway airport 20 miles up the M40 !
"London-Oxford" (Kidlington)? No only kidding.
Seriously, do you mean 20 mi. from Heathrow? If so that means about 40 mi. from London.
Bit too far out isn't it? To put it in context, would you want Ringway replaced with a Manchester airport at Stoke, or north of Preston?
When they came to Manchester 12 months back there appeared to be a rather hesitant civil serveant charged with digging out detail, I sincerely hope we are not relying on him to spoon feed the comssison data, hesitant was not the word AND if he was based in Whitehall he would not have a clue what was going on outside the M25.
Outside the M25? You’re having a laugh!
You’re talking about civil servants, so it's more like outside zone 1, or zone 2 if you’re very, very lucky.