Aviation Policy

Lord Tugendhat Excerpts

Monday 14th May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, we have an effective airport at Heathrow. The difficulty, of course, is that it is running at 98% capacity, so we need to make it better but not bigger.

[Lord Tugendhat]

Does my noble friend not agree that Heathrow and Gatwick are two great national assets? The expansion of both airports would do wonders for the British economy. It would be very beneficial, in terms of both the work that would be done in the short term and the expansion of capacity. If the Government refuse to allow a third runway at Heathrow, they will be imposing a brake on the growth of the British economy.

[Earl Attlee]

I am sure that the Government will take my noble friend’s point into consideration.