Report backing plan for new airport terminal is criticised by opponents

Campaigners against the proposed replacement Leeds Bradford Airport terminal have criticised a report issued by the owners as “smoke and mirrors”.

GALBA – Group Action on Leeds Bradford Airport – has rejected the report’s conclusion that COVID-19 does not significantly affect the future socio-economic benefits of building the new terminal.

GALBA was established in January 2020 to fight a planning application that would see a new 34,000 sq ft terminal built at the airport.

Chris Foren, chairman of GALBA, said: “The latest ‘report’ from Leeds Bradford Airport is simply smoke and mirrors to try and deflect from the fact that Covid has decimated the aviation industry globally.

“For them to claim LBA is immune to Covid and economically the arguments still stack up, is disingenuous at best.

“LBA has been forced to update its passenger claims but instead has simply moved all its figures forward by two years.

“Most aviation experts are now predicting passenger numbers will not recover to 2019 levels until 2024 at the earliest.

“Regardless of when, or if, air travel demand picks up again, it doesn’t change the fact that the LBA expansion would mean doubling its greenhouse gas emissions in the middle of the climate emergency – already announced and acknowledged by Leeds City Council – that is morally wrong and sustainably reckless.”

GALBA’s appointed barrister, Estelle Dehon, added: “LBA’s application is based on passenger projections made in 2017, ignoring the dramatic impact of Covid-19 on the airline industry.

“This is why GALBA wrote to Leeds City Council in June, informing them that it would be unlawful to approve an application so flawed.

“In response LBA has just produced a short, headline document. This update simply concludes that LBA will ride out the impact better than everyone else and may even be able to reach its existing expansion target of 7m passengers by the original 2030 date.”

As reported earlier this month, the report presented to Leeds City Council by LBA, argues that while COVID-19 has resulted in a short-term downturn in passenger numbers, 2019 levels are expected to return by 2022.

Hywel Rees, chief executive of Leeds Bradford Airport, said: “Despite the short-term financial implications of COVID-19 on the aviation industry, the findings within the report demonstrate how the development of a replacement terminal building at LBA will generate much needed jobs and economic growth for our region.”