Regions in connectivity plea

Efforts for all parts of the UK to be connected to the UK’s global hub at Heathrow are being ramped-up by the Regional and Business Airports Group (RABA), under chairman Neil Pakey.

He is presenting evidence today (18 December) to Parliament’s influential Transport Select Committee on the cause, central to which, he says, is policy change to allow UK regional slot ring-fencing.

Pakey, the former CEO of Shannon Airport and Peel Airports, says regional airports should have a comprehensive review of Heathrow routes and access stemming from the increased capacity created by the third runway.

This should also apply from the extra 25,000 annual movements Heathrow intends to create even before the third runway opens, he adds.

Pakey says he fully acknowledges Heathrow’s many efforts to increase UK connectivity and he champions RABA’s own advisory role in Heathrow’s £10m Route Development Fund to develop new UK routes. 

But he says he still thinks “the UK government needs an Airports National Policy Statement which enables the public and private sectors to work together to deliver this ambitious connectivity strategy”.

www.rabagroup.co.uk

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