Heathrow flights should increase, business leaders say

Baroness Valentine said in the absence of a long-term plan there was no choice but to increase flights

Business leaders have called for an increase in flights at Heathrow Airport as a short-term solution "to the UK's air capacity crisis".

The London First members made their submission to the Whitehall-appointed Airports Commission, which will make its final report to the government in the summer of 2015.

They also recommended greater noise protection for Heathrow residents

West London residents rallied two weeks ago to ward off expansion plans.

'No choice'

London First members also recommended Gatwick and Stansted Airports be freed from economic regulation by the Civil Aviation Authority.

It said that, in the absence of any long-term strategy to build new runways, priority must be given to finding ways of increasing flights through more intensive use of existing runways.

Heathrow could support 10% more flights while reducing delays, it said, while Gatwick and Stansted could attract more airlines and passengers if existing price controls were abolished and the quality and capacity of rail services to both were improved.

London First members include more than 200 firms from sectors including the banking and financial services to waste management.

Chief executive Baroness Jo Valentine said: "We face fierce global competition from rivals who are increasing their air links to new and established markets.

"In the absence of a long-term plan for new runway capacity to meet that threat, we have no choice but to make the assets we have work more intensively."

Heathrow is one of the world's busiest airports, handling more than 69 million passengers a year.

Last September, the government launched a review of how the UK might expand its airport capacity in the South East.

Options include adding a third runway at Heathrow, adding a second runway at Gatwick and building a new airport in the Thames Estuary.

Hundreds of people gathered in Barnes, south-west London, on 27 April, arguing against increased flights from Heathrow because of noise blight.