Public 'would use Birmingham to avoid Heathrow expansion'

The majority of the British travelling public would be willing to catch flights from Birmingham Airport to avoid a third runway being built at Heathrow Airport, new research suggests.

Managers of the West Midlands base cited a survey of 3,000 people, which found that one in four travellers think that the London hub should be expanded.

Half of the Londoners surveyed said they would consider flying from Birmingham if the government opens a high-speed rail link, which would cut the journey time between the two cities from 70 minutes to 40 minutes.

Two thirds of the respondents to the poll would reportedly be willing to travel for two hours to another airport to avoid using Heathrow.

Paul Kehoe, chief executive of Birmingham Airport, said: "It's time to take a deep breath and revisit the deeply unpopular plans for a third runway at Heathrow. It has long been said that Heathrow is in the wrong place. We should all consider whether a 1946-configuration airport is the right solution to a 2050s transport problem.

"The UK has a huge amount of unused airport capacity that the public would prefer to see used first - rather than see new runways or airports being built."

Mr Kehoe revealed that Birmingham currently has the capacity to handle an extra nine million passengers a year.

Posted by Clare, 22 January 2010 17:43

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