London Mayor Boris Johnson has called the Government “crazy” over its unwillingness to discuss new airport capacity in the south east of England.
Speaking at a People’s Question Time event this week, Johnson warned that a lack of new runways is hindering London’s longterm competitiveness.
His comments came as figures were published this week by Airports Council International showing that Heathrow has slipped from second to the fourth busiest airport worldwide by passenger numbers, behind Atlanta, Beijing and Chicago O’Hare.
Johnson’s words were welcomed by Nigel Milton, Heathrow Airport’s director of policy and political relations.
“Heathrow’s position in the global rankings shows a worrying trend and is a direct consequence of the airport being unable to develop new routes,” he said.
“We believe that London needs more airport capacity to strengthen the trading links on which future economic growth depends, and we welcome the Mayor’s comments.”
Johnson also took the opportunity to criticise the spiralling cost of aviation taxation.
"I think it is an absolute disgrace that you are seeing a kind of bourgeois repression of people’s ability to take holidays and I think it is a matter of social justice that we look at aviation capacity in this country,” he told the Question Time audience.
By Bev Fearis
