Madrid Runway Growth Leaves Heathrow Trailing
31.01.06Heathrow slipped further down the rankings of European airports today (Sun Feb 5), when Madrid airport opened two new full-length runways to take its capacity well ahead of the UK’s hub airport. The £3.5 billion project will allow the operational capacity of Madrid Barajas to increase by more than a third to 120 take-offs and landings per hour. Heathrow’s current maximum is 85. Barajas now has four runways, compared with Heathrow’s two. With an associated new terminal, Madrid will in future be able to handle 70 million passengers a year. Heathrow handles 67 million, a figure that is already well in excess of its design capacity. Madrid now joins Paris Charles de Gaulle airport in being able to manage 120 flights per hour. Frankfurt, which can currently handle 100 flights per hour, aims to reach 120 when its fourth runway opens within the next three years. Amsterdam Schiphol has capacity for 120 flights per hour, though it is gradually increasing flights to that level to comply with noise abatement rules. Munich, Milan and Rome are also breathing down Heathrow’s neck. Lord Soley, campaign director of Future Heathrow, said: “The opening of two new runways at Madrid represents a red alert for the UK. We are being left behind in a critical component of national economic competitiveness. “Having a high-capacity hub airport providing worldwide transport links is a fundamental prerequisite for economic success in the twenty-first century. “Spain has realised that – just as France, Germany and the Netherlands have already realised it by building new runways for their national hubs. “Too many people assume that because Heathrow has been Britain’s biggest passenger airport for years, it is guaranteed a place in the international elite. “This view could not be more wrong. Heathrow operates today with the same runway capacity it had when it opened 60 years ago, and is relentlessly sliding down the league table. “In the 1960s, we took for granted the leading position and record tonnage of the London docks. By 1980 they had all closed and 50,000 jobs went with them. I do not want a repeat in West London.” Future Heathrow supports full use of the airport’s two existing runways and the construction of a short third runway, provided strict environmental criteria for noise and local air quality can be met. Notes to editors: 1. For further information, please contact Lord Soley (formerly West London MP Clive Soley) on 07785 250 456 2. Future Heathrow is an alliance of trade unions, business groups, airlines and professional associations supporting the sustainable development and modernisation of Heathrow. END
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