The Let Britain Fly campaign has welcomed a survey published by the UK government’s Department of Transport that shows the UK public increasingly supportive of the need to expand runway capacity.
The survey, published by the government’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 23 July, says 57 per cent of the 1,018 members of the UK public asked, agree that new terminals and runways should be built, “in order to boost the economy.” This is up from 47 per cent in 2010. It says 47 per cent are either in favour or strongly in favour of expanding their nearest airport, with 20 per cent opposed.
Let Britain Fly is a campaign supporting UK airport expansion. Speaking last week, its director, Gavin Hayes, says: “While our politicians procrastinate on the issue of airports expansion, the British public increasingly agrees that Britain needs new runways to boost the economy and secure future jobs and growth.”
The most common reasons to expand airports by respondents were, increased job opportunities, improved local economy and greater availability of destinations, which was mentioned by 35 per cent, 29 per cent and 19 per cent of respondents, respectively. However, 36 per cent say there would be no advantages. The most common reasons to oppose expansion were, more noise, by 33 per cent of respondents, road congestion, 27 per cent, and pollution, another 27 per cent. However, 37 per cent say there would be no disadvantages.
According to figures from Let Britain Fly, all of London’s main airports will be at maximum capacity by the mid-2020s, and demand for London’s airports has grown 50 per cent in the last 20 years. It says not a single London airport has daily flights to 10 emerging economies.
