Heathrow and Gatwick Airport clash over third runway and long-haul routes claims

Gatwick has fewer frequent, long-haul routes flying from its runways today than it did in 2010, leading rival Heathrow to claim that allowing the Sussex airport to build a new runway would be a “high-risk gamble”.

Heathrow’s claims were immediately dismissed by Gatwick as “increasingly desperate”. But the new figures from Frontier Economics, commissioned by Heathrow, show that in the past six years Gatwick has lost 12 long-haul routes that airlines were flying at least twice weekly on average, seven of which connected the UK to emerging markets such as Mexico City, Beijing and Jakarta.

In that time it has only gained eight new frequent long-haul routes, meaning a net loss of four, despite its runway having spare capacity.

During that same period, Heathrow made a net gain of six new, frequent long-haul connections. Its director of strategy Andrew McMillan said: “Only Heathrow has the passenger demand and freight infrastructure that makes trading routes to Asia, Africa and the Americas viable long term... A third runway is key to the Government’s Brexit plan.