Business leaders have told the Airport Commission the country needs a single hub airport with spare capacity to allow more flights to be added to emerging markets.
The move by the CBI is being seen as a vote by the business world for an additional runway at Heathrow, said the Financial Times.
Meanwhile, writing in the Telegraph today, London mayor Boris Johnson says building a third runway at the already overcrowded west London airport would be ‘madness’.
The Airport Commission is considering where extra airport capacity should be added in the southeast of England. As an alternative to a third runway at Heathrow, the commission is considering a second runway at Gatwick, expanding Stansted or backing Johnson’s plan for a new airport in the Thames Estuary.
"The best way of getting new routes to emerging markets is through a hub with spare capacity," said CBI deputy director-general Katja Hall.
"The chancellor has set businesses ambitious targets for increasing the UK’s exports and there is simply no way of achieving these goals without upping our game in emerging markets."
Heathrow is operating at capacity, handling more than 72 million passengers last year.
