Brendon Sewill letter in the Times, correcting some claims by “Let Britain Fly”

Date added: 19 May, 2015

In a letter to the Times, responding to lobbying by “Let Britain Fly,” Brendon Sewill (Chairman of GACC) corrects some of their inaccuracies. Let Britain Fly put out an open letter, signed by some 100 business people, wanting the government to decide rapidly on building a new runway. They claim that the UK “have not built a new full-length runway in the southeast since 1945”. In fact the Gatwick runway was built in 1956-58, and the runway at Stansted was revamped in the late 1980s. They claim that most of London’s airports will be full by 2030, but in fact, if the growth of air travel is constrained within climate change limits, Stansted (now under half full) is not forecast to be full until 2040. The letter also claims that we trade up to 20 times more with countries that we have a direct link to, but this obscures the fact that we develop air links to the countries with which we trade, not the other way round. The claim that Paris has 50% more flights to China than Heathrow is only correct if Hong Kong is excluded. “The truth is that there has been massive resistance from those who value the English countryside, and each time the problem has evaporated because airlines have used larger aircraft, meaning that existing runways have been able to handle more passengers.”
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Airport forecasts

May 19 2015  (letter in the Times)

Sir, The 100-odd signatories of the letter calling for airport expanson (May 15) say that we “have not built a new full-length runway in the southeast since 1945”. In fact the Gatwick runway was built in 1956-58, and the old US Air Force runway at Stansted was revamped and given a brand new terminal in the late 1980s.

The claim that most of London’s airports will be full by 2030 is also not accurate. If the growth of air travel is constrained within climate change limits, Stansted (at present less than half full) is not forecast to be full until 2040. The letter also claims that we trade up to 20 times more with countries that we have a direct link to — but no one has yet been able to establish whether the causation is that we have the links to the countries with which we trade. Further, the claim that Paris has 50 per cent more flights to China is only correct if Hong Kong is excluded.

There have been various previous reports proposing new runways: in 1968 a four-runway airport near Aylesbury; in 1970 a government decision to build a four-runway airport at Maplin in the Thames estuary; and in 2003 a white paper announcing that the government had decided to build a new runway at Stansted, to open before 2012.

The signatories describe the non-implementation of these proposals as “political procrastination”. The truth is that there has been massive resistance from those who value the English countryside, and each time the problem has evaporated because airlines have used larger aircraft, meaning that existing runways have been able to handle more passengers.

Brendon Sewill

Chairman, Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC)

www.gacc.org.uk

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This letter is in response to the article below [with AirportWatch comments] :

http://letbritainfly.com/news/times-letter-airport-expansion/

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Posted: Tuesday, May 19th, 2015. Filed in General News, News about Airports, Recent News.