Heathrow backs Leeds Bradford Airport’s connectivity ambitions
HEATHROW AIRPORT has backed Leeds Bradford Airport’s ambitions to satisfy demand for a permanent and well-timed service to the capital.
It is also supporting the region’s desire for a share of the benefits that the proposed third runway would bring.
At a dinner in the House of Commons for 10 of the region’s MPs, Heathrow pressed the case for its expansion being in the interests of both Yorkshire and the UK.
It was a precursor to a supply chain conference in Leeds on October 15, which is being driven by the airports and local enterprise partnership.
Heathrow and Leeds Bradford Airport have successfully worked together – in what was described as “an unprecedented partnership” – in lobbying British Airways to reinstate flights from West Yorkshire to Heathrow.
The Airports Commission has recommended that the government approves plans for a third runway at Heathrow to increase the UK’s air travel capacity, rather than support an opposing proposition from Gatwick Airport.
John Holland-Kaye, chief executive of Heathrow Airport, said: “One of the good things that has come out of the process is it has made us think about what our role is in the UK. This is the first time we sat down with another airport in the UK and said ‘how do we protect and support this route?’.”
Heathrow serves 82 long-haul markets and typically needs two short-haul flights to fill a long-haul aeroplane, which is part of the reason why the west London airport wants to help its West Yorkshire counterpart to be better connected.
The airport also handles one-quarter of the UK’s exports on passenger flights.
He added: “By expanding Heathrow, we will not only have better routes and bigger capacity, we will be able to better serve exporters – that is another reason why the third runway is in the national interest.”
John Parkin, chief executive of Leeds Bradford Airport, said the British Airways flights to Heathrow were “transformational” because of their strategic importance to the region, and reiterated the airport’s support for Heathrow’s plans.
He added: “We saw two things – the regional imperative of making sure we could stay on the Heathrow runway and the compelling argument Heathrow has made about it being in the national interest. For us to be able to connect with Heathrow is vital.”
The event was hosted by Pudsey MP Stuart Andrew, who is parliamentary private secretary to Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, and also brought together business representatives including Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership chairman Roger Marsh, Make It York managing director Steve Brown and Harrogate Chamber of Commerce chief executive Brian Dunsby.
