Peel Airports Welcome the Government’s 3rd Runway Decision at Heathrow

The Peel Airports Group has today welcomed the Government’s decision to support a new runway and terminal at London Heathrow Airport believing that this can bring improved world wide connectivity for Liverpool John Lennon Airport and the region it serves.

Peel responded to the Government’s consultation on the issue last year, highlighting that UK regional airports such as Liverpool John Lennon could benefit from further expansion at London Heathrow. However, this is conditional upon the additional runway capacity being ringfenced in part for access from regional airports which will bring increased connectivity through Heathrow’s dominance as the UK and Europe’s leading hub airport.

Safeguarding increased ‘slots’ created through this development will attract airlines to develop feeder services from regional airports giving passengers the ability to connect onto the hundreds of services available from Heathrow, to those destinations which would otherwise be unsustainable even at the larger regional airports outside of London.

The Peel Airports Group also see this development as being important for the UK as a whole by helping to maintain Heathrow’s status as Europe’s largest hub feed airport with all the economic benefits that this brings, which would otherwise be at risk from competing fast growing EU hub airports.

Neil Pakey, Deputy CEO for Peel Airports commented, "We are naturally pleased that the Government has listened to what many in the regions have been saying about the strategic importance that an expanded Heathrow can bring. However, it is essential that if the 3rd runway is developed, access from Airports such as Liverpool is safeguarded to further open up Heathrow’s tremendous worldwide access, improving the competitiveness of this region."