An independent report claims that congestion at UK airports cost airlines and passengers ?1.7bn ($3.3bn) last year and this could rise to more than ?5bn ($9.8bn) by 2015 and to ?20bn ($39.4bn) by 2030.

These dire warnings were published yesterday in a report entitled ‘The Economic Contribution of the Aviation Industry in the UK’ by Oxford Economic Forecasting (OEF), which also highlights the benefits of airport expansion to the UK economy.
In its conclusions the report says that the aviation industry contributed ?11.4bn ($22.4bn) to the UK economy in 2004, while supporting more than 520,000 jobs. At the same time it said that visitors to the UK by air contribute more than ?12bn ($23.6bn) a year to the tourism industry, creating an additional 170,000 jobs.
Amongst the report's recommendations is the addition of a third short runway at Heathrow Airport, which it argues, could benefit the economy to the tune of ?7bn ($13.7bn) a year by 2030.
This expansion is also supported by Heathrow's main airline customer British Airways, with Ceo Willie Walsh on hand at the launch of the report yesterday. He said it was vital to expand Heathrow as it had slipped to fifth in the European airport table behind Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Munich.