Threat to Brexit export hopes as Heathrow is full

Third runway vital for trade, say bosses

hEAThRoW has run out of freight capacity on six key routes, it revealed yesterday – putting post-Brexit trade deals at risk.

As ministers look to boost exports outside the EU, the london airport warned that without its proposed third runway it has no room for more flights to and from international markets.

Emma Gilthorpe, the airport’s executive in charge of expansion, described Brexit as a ‘fantastic opportunity’ to increase trade to far-flung destinations but stressed that building the controversial third runway is crucial to achieving this. And she warned that without expansion, Britain will fall further behind rivals, including France and Germany, in tapping up major markets such as China.

she said: ‘We need to maintain that success story and make it even better after Brexit – but we need the capacity to do that.

‘And if six of our most important routes are already full, we’ve got to release the pressure valve and give the opportunity to businesses to continue to get their goods and services to those longhaul destinations.’

Following a detailed analysis of its cargo capacity, heathrow has revealed that the routes which are full are shanghai, Dubai, Mumbai, Delhi, los Angeles and Tokyo. Together about 302,000 tons of cargo are transported on these routes every year – almost a fifth of the total flown via the airport. A third runway is expected to double its capacity.

Gilthorpe added: ‘ I see the opportunity of combining the post Brexit environment – of having to look beyond our immediate neighbours – with increasing capacity at heathrow.

‘There is a fantastic opportunity to bring those two things together – to say right, we need to look up and out more, and here is a key enabler that will allow businesses to do this.’

heathrow is the UKs biggest port, carrying around a third of exports to long-haul destinations outside the EU, and more than a quarter of exports in total. last year over £106bn worth of goods travelled through the airport – more than the combined value ferried through Felixstowe and southampton, Britain’s biggest container ports.

The most popular goods ferried on heathrow’s most congested routes include precious metals and jewellery, aircraft engines and parts, pharmaceuticals, machinery, antiques and books.

The airport issued the warning over cargo as MPs prepare to vote on whether to finally give the green light to a third runway by the end of June, once the Government publishes its ‘national policy statement’ on expansion.

The Government has backed the 2015 decision by the independent Airports Commission that expanding heathrow would deliver a bigger benefit to the UK than alternatives, including a second runway at london Gatwick.

But the £14bn plans for a third runway at heathrow have attracted fierce opposition from local residents, airline bosses and MPs.

Willie Walsh, the boss of British Airways- owner IAG, told the Commons transport committee on Tuesday that he has ‘zero confidence’ that a third runway at heathrow will be delivered on time and on budget.

heathrow’s management claims it will be able to complete the expansion by the end of 2025.