UK Airports Commission: the UK's runway capacity farce continues as opponents dig in

The UK's Airports Commission, tasked with looking into the need for additional UK airport capacity, has reached an important provisional conclusion. On 7-Oct-2013, the Commission's Chairman Sir Howard Davies said: "We will need some net additional runway capacity in the south east of England in the coming decades". Relying only on existing runways would "produce a distinctly sub-optimal solution for passengers, connectivity and the economy".

Meanwhile, campaign group Stop Stansted Expansion is seeking to launch a legal challenge to the Commission's work. This is on the grounds that one of the Commission's former members, ex-CEO of Manchester Airports Group Geoff Muirhead, who stepped down in Sep-2013, may have been able to influence it in MAG's favour.

This illustrates one of the difficulties in making decisions about future airport capacity. Whatever its final recommendations in 2015, it will be impossible to reconcile the different views of national politicians, local politicians, airlines, airports, environmental campaigners and NIMBY-ism ('not in my back yard'). Nevertheless, the UK's future as a global aviation hub demands that a clear decision be taken.