It was a day of contrasts. In the afternoon I passed through Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. With its double-decker high-speed trains, hyper-efficient service and truly global destination routes, Schiphol is surely an airport of the future.
Returning home that night, I was stranded in darkness on the Stansted Express (Stansted Snail more like). Some five hours later, we were asked to climb onto a parallel train which chugged back to London. It wasn’t difficult to see why Amsterdam is pinching all our business.
As the Standard recently revealed, the British economy stands to lose more than £100 billion over the next two decades if the Government doesn’t urgently address our airport crisis. Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt have all massively increased their flights to key economies in the Far East, while London looks on in awe and despair. It’s like the weedy Brit abroad watching his Continental cousins steal the exotic girls.
Yes, there are various consultations, debates and discussions under way on our air capacity problems — most are necessary but so far none involve swift action. Meanwhile, the rest of the world races ahead. In China, building work carries apace to accommodate the rural workers streaming into the cities. Say what you like about the Chinese but you don’t see them getting bogged down by process and bureaucracy.
Not to mention costly distractions like HS2, the planned railway between London and the Midlands. Why the obsession with such high-speed domestic links? It’s the international community we need to connect with — before it’s too late.
Major countries such as Britain are successful because they focus on one financial hub. London is the engine room of the UK — it powers the economy. Every British city has its charm and identity but they all rely upon the capital. We shouldn’t have to apologise for this, far less waste time and money trying to spread economic equality around the country.
Instead we should focus our efforts on London — east London, in fact — and give it the world–class airport it needs to continue supporting the rest of the country. We don’t want people passing through Amsterdam for Beijing or Madrid for São Paolo. We need an airport that reflects our ambitions as the true hub of Europe.
So where should it be? “Boris Island” in the Thames Estuary is intriguing but fraught with complications. Heathrow’s third runway has been ruled out as a quick fix. How about turning Stansted into a proper airport? It’s just 30 miles from the city centre and the only London airport with space and permission to grow.
Expanding it would be cheaper than starting from scratch and help continue the regeneration of east London, one of the last places in Europe suffering because of Second World War bombings.
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With Europe in the midst of a serious economic meltdown, Britain has a huge opportunity to forge ahead with our safe currency and low business taxes. But we need to be bold, Iron Lady-style. We’ve shown we can do big occasions — the royal wedding, the Diamond Jubilee and soon the Olympics. Now we need a global airport.
Ivan Massow is head of the Conservative Technology Initiative for London. Evening Standard airports debate, see standardevents.co.uk
