Granting access to the UK's regional airports must be an overriding priority regardless of where the Airports Commission decides to build a new runway, a task force said today.
The National Connectivity Task Force announced its findings in a report entitled "Air Connectivity Matters - Linking the Nations and Regions of Britain to London and the World".
London Heathrow suggested setting up the task force in its submission to the Airports Commission in May last year.
However, chair Lord John Shipley insisted the task force was completely independent as no member was paid and it reported directly to the commission.
But Gatwick airport, which is campaigning for a second runway and is in opposition to LHR's desire for a third runway, today claimed the report was biased.
A statement from LGW described it as "an exercise in manufacturing an outcome to support Heathrow's third runway ambitions".
The National Connectivity Task Force report calls for the government to break with recent air traffic planning and focus equally on the regions.
It reads: "Standard measures of accessibility should be at the heart of government policy in relation to air access from the UK regions. This means that air travellers from the regions should be able to accomplish four to six hours of business in London and still get home the same day, or reach global cities (with the possible exception of those in the Asia-Pacific region), one stop, within 24 hours."
Lord Shipley said: "There is a chance to institute a major rethink of the Department for Transport's policy of non-intervention, which for 20 years has de facto prioritised international air access over domestic services to London's two largest airports.
"The effect of the repeated failure of government to make strategically important decisions about runway capacity in the south-east over the last quarter of a century and then see them through, is a heavily-congested and impaired market which forces UK regions to rely on overseas hubs for their global connectivity.
"However, the existing UK policy can no longer be defended when there is the prospect of over 250,000 additional take-off and landing slots being released when a new runway opens.
"Moreover, a failure to act now and adopt some relatively straightforward and low-cost interim solutions, would be completely at odds with broader government policy priorities on economic growth and rebalancing."
In January, Easyjet, which has its biggest base at Gatwick, threw its support behind London Heathrow's plan for a third runway (see news, January 30).
nationalconnectivitytaskforce.co.uk
Graham Smith
