WESTMINSTER WATCH GARETH MORGAN National assets
The UK’s airports and supporting infrastructure are vital to ensuring countrywide growth
I
AM GOING TO DO SOMETHING RADICAL for someone who pens a political column… I’m not going to write about General Elections or Brexit. Shock horror. That’s not just me being
awkward, it’s just that the interesting stuff for business travel is unrelated (OK, partly unrelated) to both. This is because the government in the months following the election is likely to produce a Draft Aviation Strategy that will set out the policy framework for the growth of UK airports. That sounds a bit dry – it may be better to think of this forthcoming publication as the strategy that covers “airports other than Heathrow”. As we all know, Heathrow will have its own path to growth that will see the first phase culminate in a parliamentary vote in the autumn of 2017. But regional airports are about to get their moment in the sun. A word of warning though: don’t call them regional airports. That may sound glib but it also goes to the heart of what this strategy could and should be about. ‘Regional airports’ sounds parochial, like they serve only their locality, but these are strategic assets for the UK. The lobbying from these airports is likely to focus on getting government to treat them as such. I have heard suggestions that
government may start off from the point of view that nothing much is wrong. It looks at airports around the UK that are generally doing well. They are growing their passenger numbers and so maybe government’s focus should be a bit of tinkering but nothing more than that. If it ain’t broke, etc ...
44 BBT May/June 2017
Gareth Morgan is a political lobbyist and director with Cavendish Communica- tions. He is an advisor to the Guild of Travel Management Companies (GTMC).
But that would miss the point. These airports have the potential to be so much more, if they were just backed in the right way. The UK government is talking a good game: ‘We want to encourage and facilitate trade, we have a draft Industrial Strategy that is explicit about intervening in regional economies to back the technologies of the future and re-balance the economy away from the hothouse of London’. It needs to back that up with its aviation strategy. Speak to most non-Heathrow airport operators in the UK about their priority and it won’t be adding another runway; it’ll be investing in surface transport infrastructure. Consider Manchester airport, a genuine national strategic asset. Imagine how it could become a true
gateway to the North if you could get from Hull to Manchester Airport on a 125mph train? What would the economies of Sheffield or Liverpool be like if companies could locate there knowing they could as easily access the international connections and trade opportunities as they could in central Manchester? How far could the benefits of connectivity be spread in a region?
This is how the aviation strategy should be viewed by government. In the coming months the business travel lobby will be lending its weight to calls from airports that an unambitious strategy, drafted by the air division of DfT is not fit for purpose. We will be ensuring that the new MPs and City Mayors are putting pressure on Government to accept that this is not the time for an “if it ain’t broke” approach.
Manchester airport could be a true gateway to the North
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136