Support for airports commissioner.

In response to today’s announcement by government airports commissioner Sir Howard Davies, calling for more runways to be built, Paul Kehoe, Chief Executive of Birmingham Airport, said: “We welcome this as a positive step towards putting in place a long-term aviation strategy that supports the wider UK economy.

In his first major public speech, Sir Howard over-ruled arguments from environmentalists and community campaigners against expanding the UK’s aviation market and backed new runways in the South East of England. Sir Howard gave no hint as to which airports were in the running for new runways but he did say that additional capacity will be needed to help passengers, connectivity and the economy as well as to help manage any increase in emissions.

Mr Kehoe added in response, “At Birmingham Airport, we believe that this country needs a network of long-haul airports serving our great cities. Clearly, getting the right amount of aviation capacity for London is absolutely critical for the smooth functioning of such a network – but that is not the end of the story.

“To build a balanced Britain, we need international gateways up and down the country that are delivering on all cylinders for economies across the whole of the UK – including the South East, the Midlands, the North and Scotland.

“We’ve had a good steer on the capacity issue but we look forward to hearing more about aviation and the national economy in the Interim Report in December”.