Gatwick Airport responds to Airports Commission Report

Gatwick CEO Stewart Wingate has questioned the Airports Commission report’s recommendation of a new third runway at Heathrow.

Gatwick Airport has published a 49-page response to Sir Howard Davies’s Airports Commission Final Report, which was charged with finding a solution to Britain’s potential future aviation capacity problems, claiming it to be full of false assumptions, errors and omissions.

Gatwick had hoped to be recommended for expansion following it being shortlisted, along with Heathrow, in the Airports Commission’s December 2013 interim report.

The response says a “key flaw” in the report is the reduction in services caused by the proposed ban on night flights not being factored into its own analysis of traffic forecasts within the report itself.

The report states Gatwick would see 40 million passengers a year by 2025; a figure that Gatwick says it will actually reach this year.

Gatwick’s response also states that the night time restrictions would impact of the number of long haul flights travelling to and from growth markets in the Far East – an issue fundamental to the decision to recommend Heathrow.

The Gatwick response also calls into serious question the report’s finding on the economic benefits, costs, financing and the deliverability of Heathrow’s scheme.

Mr Wingate said: “We expected a well-considered examination of all options, but instead the final report contains so many omissions and basic errors that its reliability as the basis of aviation policy must be called into question. The findings of this report simply do not add up.

“Britain is in danger of losing out once again if we repeat mistakes of the past – Heathrow has failed time and again and the Airports Commission report and the conditions placed on expansion have not solved the huge obstacles confronting it.

“In recent weeks, it has become abundantly clear that Heathrow won’t meet these conditions, nor will they pay for the £6Bn in surface access improvements needed, and Heathrow’s airlines have shown they don’t want to pay for the runway. The recommendation for Heathrow is unravelling by the day.

“I remain confident that when all the risks and benefits are properly considered, Gatwick will still represent the best option for UK airport expansion.”

An Airports Commission spokesperson defended the report saying: “The evidence in the final report was subject to extensive analysis and consultation and we are confident that it is fit for purpose.”

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, has set up cabinet committee to decide on this issue with a decision due by the end of this year.

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