by David Jones

The boss of Lydd Airport believes there could be a boost for regional airports following the government's announcement that no new runways will be allowed at Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted.

Jonathan Gordon, Lydd's managing director, said the new coalition government's decision to block runway building at the three biggest airports in the south-east could mean that smaller airports in the region may be expected to help meet the demand for future air travel growth.

"Lydd will always be a small regional airport but we can play our part in taking some of the pressure off the big aviation hubs in the south-east," said Mr Gordon.

"Regional airports make good sense. They cut down surface journeys to and from airports and thereby help with both road congestion and pollution.

"In addition regional development would spread air traffic flows over a wider area thus relieving congestion."

Mr Gordon said the government's decision made sense in many ways: "A third runway at Heathrow would generate increased traffic over the centre of London.

"In this regard Heathrow could hardly be worse placed on the western flank of London.

"With winds favouring approaches over the city on the majority of occasions, not only is there a significant increase in noise and pollution, but also airspace congestion should a third runway be built.

"The majority of all UK aircraft arrivals and departures are towards the south east so any new build runway to the north of London - for example at Stansted - generates needless criss-cross traffic of the London airspace, which is among the busiest in the world.

"This needlessly increases pollution, congestion and noise.

Mr Gordon argues that, logically, any new runway should favour the majority direction of travel.

"The only plan that may have made some sense would be a second runway at Gatwick because it is to the south of London, but even then there are a number of significant reasons why this would be difficult to achieve.

"We have always maintained that our location is ideal for serving air traffic heading across the English Channel and we hope that this decision will help local economic prosperity and job creation by boosting the commercial viability of smaller regional airports like Lydd."