Traffic & Transport
Aviation is primarily a leisure industry – it’s not vital to the UK economy | Gatwick airport
Gatwick’s second runway (Gatwick airport to open second runway after legal challenge fails, 4 August) is guaranteed to be a fundamental and dangerous mistake – as will be any airport expansion. Aviation wants to persuade us all into thinking it can be business as usual plus. But it can’t. In the face of accelerating climate change (the evidence is all around us) massively increasing planet heating emissions via yet more flights is surely insanity.
What the aviation industry never really wants to talk about is the fact that it is not vital to the UK economy. It is primarily a leisure industry. More than 80% of passengers passing through UK airports are going on holiday; business use fell off a cliff years ago. The Office for National Statistics reports that, in 2024, the net tourism deficit for the UK was £46.1bn. It’s about time the UK government woke up to all this and stopped allowing aviation to whisper nonsense in its ears.
Roger Haydon
Gateshead, Tyne and Wear