Heathrow's plans for a third runway were given a boost today after receiving the backing of the Oneworld, Star and Skyteam alliances.
The Airport Commission last week published a summary of the short and medium term proposals on how to expand the UK's airport capacity (see online news, August 7).
It suggested that one of the alliances could be moved to another south-east airport.
But none of the global alliances want to leave LHR, so have publicly backed the airport's three proposals for a third runway.
Oneworld leader British Airways said it wants to stay at Heathrow and has the support of its alliance, whose members include American Airlines, Air Berlin and Iberia.
The Star Alliance, which includes United Airlines, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, is due to move into the new Terminal 2 next year.
A spokesman said: "This will allow us to effectively compete with the other alliances in Heathrow and add to the quality of our services, and therefore we do not see any opportunity for us to make a change to another airport."
And Skyteam, which includes Air France-KLM, Delta Air Lines and China Eastern, has also ruled out leaving Heathrow.
Tae Joon Kim, SkyTeam's vice-president of airport services, said: "Relocating to another London or UK airport is not an option for our members."
The Airports Commission is now seeking feedback on the various submissions from all parties by September 27.
It will then present its interim findings by the end of the year and a full report is scheduled to follow in summer 2015.
oneworld.com, staralliance.com, skyteam.com
Graham Smith
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