Heathrow third runway a 'threat to Gatwick'

Jan 26, 2009

By Charles Starmer-Smith

The building of a third runway at Heathrow airport could threaten the future of Gatwick, one airline chief suggested this week.

Tim Jeans, managing director of Monarch Airlines, said that if British Airways were to move many of its services to Heathrow to take advantage of a new runway the result could be “tumbleweed blowing down the runway at Gatwick”.

Gatwick – one of Monarch’s hubs – has already suffered from the collapse of Zoom, XL, LTE and Oasis Hong Kong Airlines as well as the failure this week of Lithuanian Airlines, which flew to Vilnius.

Mr Jeans told Telegraph Travel that a new runway at Heathrow would blight the lives of a million people in west London and instead called for the expansion to take place at Gatwick. He said similar development there would require the demolition of about 300 homes – fewer than at Heathrow, where 700 houses are under threat in the village of Sipson alone.

Figures released this month by the Civil Aviation Authority showed a sharp fall in traffic from Gatwick in December. Passenger numbers were down by nearly 14 per cent, compared with a 2.3 per cent fall at Heathrow.

Other airports run by BAA Stansted, Glasgow, Southampton, Edinburgh and Aberdeen – also saw reductions. In contrast, Luton, which is privately owned, this week reported record passenger numbers in 2008 – up by 2.5 per cent to 10.2 million, thanks partly to the launch of services on 13 new routes.

A BAA spokesman said: “We expect, on the evidence of historic economic downturns and the resulting effect on air traffic, that the long-term prospects for growth remain good and that passenger volumes will recover in due course.”

British Airways, which has more than 40 per cent of the lucrative slots at Heathrow, has already announced that it is to end its services from Gatwick to Dublin and Zurich, while reducing daily domestic shuttle services from Gatwick to Edinburgh (six to four), Glasgow (five to four) and Manchester (seven to five). Analysts expect that BA will move other services from Gatwick to allow it to buy slots on the third runway and stop rivals competing on its Heathrow routes.

Since the signing last March of the “open skies” agreement between the United States and the European Union, ending restrictions on transatlantic routes, American Airlines has switched its Dallas flights from Gatwick to Heathrow, and Continental has done the same with its New York services. Bmi has also switched services from Manchester to Heathrow.

Six groups are believed to be considering a bid for Gatwick. BAA and its Spanish parent, Ferrovial, had been hoping to attract offers of about £2 billion, but bids of between £1.7 billion and £1.8 billion are more likely following the reduction in passenger numbers.

At Heathrow, a third runway, coupled with a new sixth terminal, would allow at least 125,000 more flights each year.

A survey of more than 900 members of Responsibletravel.com, an umbrella group for ethically minded tour operators and hoteliers, found that 75 per cent were against plans for a third runway at Heathrow.

Source: The Telegraph