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Heathrow doesn't need third runway says top travel agent (1 viewing) (1) Guest
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TOPIC: Heathrow doesn't need third runway says top travel agent
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Heathrow doesn't need third runway says top travel agent 5 Months, 2 Weeks ago
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From thisislondon.co.uk
A leading chain of travel agents has come out firmly against the proposed third runway at Heathrow.
The Co-operative Travel, which has 400 high-street stores and sells more than £1billion of holidays every year, says instead of the extra runway the aviation industry must improve existing services and technology.
This is the first time a travel agency has joined the protests and is likely to cause the Prime Minister discomfort.
Gordon Brown gave a strong hint to MPs last week that the Government intended to approve the third runway at the end of the year. He said: "We can't afford to duck a decision about the future of airports. That's why it is right to go ahead with airport expansion."
But Mike Greenacre, managing director of The Co-operative Travel, said that a line had to be "drawn in the sand" for new runways and that a third runway would increase traffic congestion around Heathrow.
Mr Greenacre said: "A third runway at Heathrow and other new runway proposals conflict with the UK's targets to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 60 per cent by 2050.
"If the industry can demonstrate that it is able to grow without increasing its emissions, such growth, we believe, would be best accommodated at existing UK regional airports.
"Ultimately, a line in the sand has to be drawn for new runways in the UK."
Jason Torrance, campaigns director at Campaign for Better Transport - a pressure group which conducted " indepth analysis of projected airline growth" with The Co-operative Travel - said the chain had "thrown down a challenge to the travel industry to put rhetoric about the need to tackle climate change into action".
Environmentalist Jonathon Porritt, founder director of Forum for the Future, added: "It's great to see a business squarely facing up to the sustainability challenges inherent in aviation and holiday travel."
Current proposals are for another runway and a sixth terminal to be built at Heathrow by 2020.
Business Secretary John Hutton was accused of turning the current consultation-about the third runway into a "sham" after he said at Farnborough Air Show on 14 July that "British business would not forgive us if we shirked our responsibility because we wanted an easy ride from green lobby groups".
Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker said Mr Hutton "let slip what we knew all along - the consultation for a third runway at Heathrow is a sham", and accused the Government of being "like a subsidiary" of airport owner BAA. |
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