AIRPORTS
Digital editor Tom Newcombe
rounds up the latest news from
buyingbusinesstravel.com
APD
HEATHROW: ‘THIRD RUNWAY WOULD REDUCE AIRFARES’
Pledges to cut APD after Scottish vote
THE SCOTTISH TRAVEL INDUSTRY received a boost in the run up to the independence referendum on September 18. At a debate organised this April by Scotland’s travel trade body, the Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association (SPAA), politicians and campaigners from both sides pledged to slash air passenger duty (APD) if they were to win the autumn vote.
Annabelle Ewing, the SNP MSP for Mid-Scotland and
Fife, said if her party was elected to govern an independent Scotland it would cut the tax by 50 per cent in the first year and eventually abolish it if “finances allowed”. Ian McGill, the leader of the Better Together campaign in Edinburgh, said he would campaign for APD to be controlled by a devolved Scottish government. Less committed was Scottish Labour MSP and Better
Together campaigner James Kelly, who said he would keep “an open mind” about who should control the stealth tax. The SPAA has campaigned against APD since its inception, claiming it was discriminatory against Scottish business and consumers, who have to pay the levy twice if travelling overseas via an English airport.
As the most noise-polluting airport in Europe, on a site half the size of Paris’s Charles de Gaulle, Heathrow has simply outgrown its premises
Daniel Moylan, chief advisor on aviation to the Mayor of London, in an open letter to the Daily Telegraph regarding Heathrow expansion
6 BBT MAY/JUNE 2014
AIRFARES FOR FLIGHTS FROM HEATHROW are currently £95 higher due to the lack of capacity at the UK’s hub airport, according to a new report. Research firm Frontier Economics also estimated that the average ticket price could be £300 lower by 2030 if Heathrow was allowed to expand, while a third runway could add 40 new routes from the airport. The report, commissioned by the airport, found that airfares have been pushed up by around £95 because Heathrow is already operating at full capacity. Frontier said that the figures included the costs of building a new runway and the savings that passengers will benefit from due to the extra capacity the extra runway will create. Heathrow chief executive Colin Matthews said not building a
third runway would be a “disincentive to doing business in the UK”. He said: “The private sector stands ready to invest in the infrastructure Britain needs. The government has it within its power to lower prices for consumers by taking a clear decision to support expansion and end the years of prevarication that are now causing fares to rise and routes to be constrained.” Matthews is due to step down after the opening of the new Terminal 2 in June.
The Airports Commission, headed by former CBI boss Sir
Howard Davies, is currently looking at two possible expansion options at Heathrow, as well as a possible second runway at Gatwick. The commission will make its final recommendation in summer 2015 after the next general election.
RAIL HS2: no to Eurostar link
TRANSPORT SECRETARY PATRICK MCLOUGHLIN has confirmed the HS2 rail route will not be linked to the Eurostar line. The news followed a report published by HS2 chairman David Higgins that indicated an extended route from London Euston to St Pancras – where Eurostar departs – would be too expensive. Higgins said the revised project timetable could see a
new “transport hub” opening in Crewe in 2027, connecting the high-speed line with services to the rest of the north west, Wales and Scotland.
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