In his capacity of the President of the North & Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, OBAS CEO Norman Tenray will be hosting an event at the Preston Marriott which will see Gatwick Airport executives making the business case for the benefits of expansion to the North West’s business community.

 

In 2013, Gatwick announced plans to construct a second runway to the south of the existing runway and airport boundary by 2025. In December of the same year, the Airports Commission chaired by Sir Howard Davies published its shortlist of which Southeast airports should be considered for additional runways. In addition to two alternatives at Heathrow, it recommended an option for an additional wide-spaced, 10,000 ft (3,000 m) runway at Gatwick.

 

The Gatwick proposal represents an alternative, if not mutually exclusive vision, of airport capacity in the UK to that proposed by Heathrow Airport, both of which demonstrate how airport capacity can be increased for the benefit of the UK as a whole.

 

UK businesses require further expansion of the country's aviation capacity and it’s incredibly important this strategy should involve the strengthening of regional airports, whilst developing hub airports in the South East. This will boost economic growth in the regions, help to relieve capacity shortages during extreme weather and provide business and holiday travel for people locally.

 

In addition to the expansion of the global hub airport at Heathrow and that of Gatwick, there is also a strong national business case for the development and expansion of Stanstead, all three of which have private-sector investors ready to invest in increasing our airport capacity which will help drive international trade, encourage inward investment, attract more tourists and create jobs.

 

Commenting on the impact of Gatwick Airport’s expansion on the North West, Norman said: "For the North West, Manchester Airport will be a huge beneficiary from this further growth and I believe we should continue to call for the development of smaller local airports ot increase competition and interconnectedness, this is especially relevant to us locally after the recent failure of Blackpool Airport."

 

Speaking from his perspective as the owner a builders merchants in Lancashire, Norman commented: "At OBAS we're seeing the growth in the sale of construction supplies on a daily basis, paralleling the recovery throughout the UK and I'm confident the UK needs to continue to capitalise on this momentum. Now is the time for clear and decisive action on aviation capacity, this issue may be a potential political hot potato, however if we continue to dither, we risk the UK’s position as the gateway to Europe and the business that brings going to one of our neighbours."

 

View Norman's blog post on Gatwick Expansion.