Heathrow, the vital cog that connects the UK with the world

And our country prospered as a result. Heathrow is the UK’s only ‘hub’ airport, and has supported our trading position for decades.

As a ‘hub’ airport, Heathrow pools demand from around the UK with that from other nearby countries. By combining local passengers with transfer passengers, Heathrow can support many more long haul destinations than any other airport in the UK. The UK’s many other airports – such as Manchester or Birmingham – serve important, but different, market needs.

They are not equipped to use transfer passengers to supplement the ups and downs of local demand and so they cannot support the frequent, direct links to far-flung countries vital for regional development.

Our country’s competitive advantage will end some time in the next decade as Heathrow is overtaken by Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt or Dubai as the busiest airport for international passengers.

Each competes with the UK for inward investment and jobs, especially for access to the emerging markets to which Yorkshire and the Humber currently sends £2.8bn in exports each year. And being full, Heathrow can’t keep up with them.

Unless we act, Heathrow’s relative decline will make the whole of the UK a less attractive place to do business.

Some argue that if having one hub is good, having two, for example Stansted and Heathrow, must be better. In reality this will not work. Splitting the pool of transfer passengers available to fill fights undermines the viability of long haul routes.

Tokyo’s attempt to operate hubs at Haneda and Narita airports saw it slip from first to seventh in Asian city connectivity rankings.

The UK needs a single hub. The Government has three options: add capacity at Heathrow; close Heathrow and build a new hub airport elsewhere; or do nothing and see the economic prosperity of the entire UK suffer.