Lord Digby Jones tells Airports Commission – “don’t just stand there. Do something!”

Lord Digby Jones: “We can’t wait until 2015 while politicians dither over the UK airport crisis”

  by Digby Jones
September 23, 2013,(City AM)

To delay until after the 2015 election for a decision on what to do about airports (let alone to start to actually sort out the problem) is political cowardice.

And this is not rocket science. There are solutions we can take before 2015. The government could begin the process of lifting the flight cap at Heathrow to allow concurrent take-off and landing from both runways. Gatwick and Stansted could be freed from out-of-date price control regulation to allow them to compete effectively for airlines and passengers. There could be quick investment in better rail links to these airports. Give an independent noise regulator real powers to deal with justifiable concerns. But why can’t this be introduced now?

Urgent action is needed. But we also need the solutions to be robust. This is why I have written to the airports commission, together with Lord Davies [a different Davies, not Sir Howard, this is Lord Davies of Abersoch, who was a Labour Minister from 2009 – 10  link ], another previous minister of state for trade and investment, and Andrew Cahn  link, former chief executive of UK Trade and Investment. We are urging Sir Howard to be bold.

Last year, 147m passengers used airports in the South East; Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport has six runways compared to Heathrow’s two; Frankfurt airport is set to increase hourly capacity by 50 per cent; surveys show there is the demand for 45 new destinations to be added to the route network from Heathrow; more flights leave Frankfurt for cities in China in a week than leave Heathrow for the whole world in a weekend.  [Where are the facts to back up these claims?]

[Lord Digby may not be aware of the problem of flights to China from the UK not being very profitable, as there does not appear to be enough demand. See below ]

Every day, investment is diverting away from these shores to other European destinations because investors from Asia and Latin America can get there more easily. Politicians shelter behind the myth that video conferencing is a solution. Such facilities are a necessary and a useful component in a business’s toolbox, but they need to “be there” at some point, and shaking hands will never be replaced.

The lack of daily direct services to 10 emerging economies served by Paris, Amsterdam or Frankfurt represents £1.2bn in lost trade each year to the UK. Imagine the loss of tax revenue that goes with it. Politicians, please don’t just stand there. Do something! You are crippling our economy by doing nothing.

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Lord Jones is a former director general of the Confederation of British Industry, and former minister of state for trade and investment.

This is a letter

written to the Evening Standard, in which Lord Digby Jones warned of the dangers of ignoring the issues currently facing Heathrow airport.

16.5.2012   (from  Lord Digby’s personal website)

Dear Sir,

Your Leader yesterday plugged into probably the biggest long-term problem affecting London (and indeed the UK as a whole). To compete effectively in Asia’s Century, to create employment and create wealth to generate taxation to pay for schools and hospitals, we need to have an efficient, productive, welcoming gateway that is large enough to accommodate the people-flows that come with an expanding, leading World City. Currently that is not the case.

Heathrow MUST expand.

60% of traffic on a long-haul route does not originate at the departure airport. There are direct flights to twelve cities in China from Frankfurt; (there are three from Heathrow!). But two thirds of the people who fill those planes didn’t start their journey there. Frankfurt is the Hub. Heathrow can’t be an efficient hub because it has, frankly, run out of everything: runways, room, car parks, staff. The dangers to UK job and tax generation are frightening.

Boris Island? Fine, but Heathrow would have to close. A quarter of a million job losses in West London! What would anti-third runway MPs say about that?

Utilise the excess capacity at Birmingham by building a high-speed link? Fine for point-to-point but no use as a hub operation. Remember that 60% figure.

So it’s back to a third runway. Or (forgive the pun) terminal decline of our globalised business base is inevitable. For that to happen to the World’s Great City would be a tragedy; for that to happen because of a spectacular own goal would be unforgivable.

It was Wellington at Waterloo who said: “Never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake”. Well, all Charles de Gaulle, Schiphol and Frankfurt have to do is sit back and wait!

Yours truly,

Lord Digby Jones

http://www.digbylordjones.com/plane-talking.html

20.7.2007:

“Sir Digby Jones has stood down as chairman of aviation lobby group Flying Matters, just days after the organisation’s launch, following his appointment to the Government as trade and industry minister.

Flying Matters was set up last month to mount a media campaign to counter the view that growth in aviation should be limited