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EUROPE. Heathrow Airport CEO John Holland-Kaye has warned that the UK hub could lose its status as Europe’s biggest airport for international traffic within the next ten years. It is already set to lose its position as the world’s largest airport to Dubai International this year.
The warning comes as the UK Airports Commission prepares to launch its 12-week consultation into capacity expansion in the UK south-east.
A decline in Heathrow’s status would have big implications for retailers at the UK’s biggest gateway. The warning comes weeks after Heathrow struck a new deal with World Duty Free Group for its duty free concession, and as it prepares to open a major new luxury goods environment at T5, targeted at high-spending long-haul travellers, many from emerging Asian, Latin American and African markets.
Heathrow Airport said in a statement: “As one of only a handful of hub airports in the world, London competes with Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam for the transfer traffic which makes daily direct, long-haul routes to emerging markets viable.” These markets are predicted to make up nearly half of global GDP by 2050, it added.
“With UK businesses trading 20 times more with emerging markets with daily direct flights than those with less frequent or no direct service, Britain needs more flights to more cities than France, Germany and the Netherlands to win the race for jobs and growth that will otherwise go to international competitors.”
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Heathrow Airport claims its status as Europe’s leading hub is under threat |
The company noted that recent traffic figures from each airport show that the UK hub is showing the slowest rate of growth among its competitors. Paris has increased most quickly in the 12 months since August, up +4%, followed by Amsterdam (+3.8%), and Frankfurt (+3.1%). Heathrow showed the lowest growth rate, at +2.1% almost entirely based on higher loads factors and larger aircraft.
Analysis of Heathrow’s winter schedule using data for the first week of February in 2014 and 2015 also found that of the four major European hubs, only Heathrow has been unable to increase the number of airlines operating from it this winter. By contrast, Paris has added ten new airlines, Amsterdam seven and Frankfurt five, with Paris now hosting over 100 airlines compared to Heathrow’s 81.
Heathrow Airport said: “While Heathrow was able to add only one previously unserved destination to its winter schedule (a British Airways flight to Austin), Paris was able to add 18 new destinations from 13 different airlines, including to Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, and Xi’an, the largest industrial economy in China’s Shaanxi province. Frankfurt was able to add 17 destinations amongst eight different airlines, including Changsha, one of China’s major transportation hubs, and Gaziantep, Kayseri, and Elazig in Turkey – part of the MINT group of nations tipped as the next emerging economic giants. Amsterdam was able to add nine new routes, including to Jakarta and Egypt.”
The capacity constraint at Heathrow parallels the loss of Britain’s status as the largest maritime freight port in the UK, after being overtaken by the Netherlands in 2012, noted the airport company.
John Holland-Kaye said: “Britain benefits from having the biggest international hub airport in the world, one of only six airports in the world with more than 50 regular long-haul flights. Heathrow gets British business people and their exports to the world’s growing economies – but lack of capacity at Heathrow means we are being overtaken by we are being overtaken by our European competitors – they are taking the growth that should be ours. Britain could and should win the race for growth.
“We have a choice. We can have the vision and confidence to develop Heathrow into the world’s best connected airport, putting Britain at the heart of the global economy, or we can accept that in the future Britain will be on the branch-line to growth – having to fly via Paris, Frankfurt or Istanbul to get to emerging markets. With the Airport Commission’s consultation imminent, we can’t sit idly by and hope the right decision is made. It’s time to speak out in support of our hub. It’s time to respond to the consultation. We should hang our heads in shame if we let slip the competitive advantage handed down to us by previous generations.”
