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Yorks jobs need Heathrow boost
EXPERTS at a seminar in Leeds appealed to the Government to consider all options for boosting the capacity at the country’s only hub airport.
They said that improving the capacity for more flights at Heathrow Airport would bring money, jobs and tourists to Yorkshire.
Attendees at the event held at Pinsent Masons on Park Row heard that Heathrow is nearly operating at full capacity which could risk air links to emerging economies throughout the world. They said this would stifle business.
Heathrow is the UK’s only so-called hub airport which acts as a focus for internal travellers to travel out to foreign lands, and travellers from abroad to come here and move on to the regions.
The event was organised by the Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber.
Oliver Salmon, of research group Oxford Economics, said that £3.3bn of Yorkshire’s exports depend on air travel so having flights to other countries, especially emerging economies like China and India, from Heathrow was vital to stop foreign investment going abroad to countries which can offer better air travel opportunities.
He added that 3,800 tourism jobs in Yorkshire and The Humber depend on Heathrow.
He said: “I think there is a common misconception in the UK that Heathrow only benefits London.”
Jonathan Riley, a partner with Pinsent Masons, said that protestors living in West London had “dominated” the arguments against expanding Heathrow and the case had to be made on how the rest of the country would benefit from expansion.
Jose Leo, chief financial officer of the BAA, said increasing capacity at Heathrow was vital: “It’s very important to a country like the UK that has a tradition of links to the rest of the world. We are at risk of losing our premier positioning.”
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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eric greener
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 12:36 PMThis is typical of the southern lobby which sees itself as grossly self-important to the rest of the UK. May I remind everyone that Yorkshire has two majot airports (LeedsBranford and Doncaster) which can both benefit from a redistribution of the traffic that is squeezed into London and the South East. Yorkshire tourism may depend on Heathrow but that's because Heathrow has a stranglehold on routes from the UK. It is like 'predict and provide' on the roads. They just want to create more capacity in the south east and everyone else can go whistle. Instead of building more and more in the se, let us use our own Yorkshire airports to bring in visitors to the UK. That way jobs would be created where they are needed. The roadshows are cynical, are designed to scare business into compliance and - what a surprise - can only bolster the share value of BAA and the market dominance of British Airways. We cannot let ourselves and the rest of the UK get conned by these people.
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