BRITISH Airways does not want Cliffe airport. Speaking to business leaders at the CBI conference in Manchester, BA's chief economist Andrew Sentence said it would prefer expansion at Heathrow.

He told business leaders that new runways were needed, but not on the Hoo Peninsula. "We believe the only realistic option for maintaining an internationally-competitive hub is to develop Heathrow further," he said.

The airline would be telling the Government: "We think you should develop Heathrow within environmentally satisfactory conditions and we don't need this new airport. We don't need two hub airports."

During the debate, chaired by Baroness Dean, formerly print union chief Brenda Dean and now chairman of the Freedom to Fly Coalition, Geoff Muirhead, Manchester Airport chief executive, said better use should be made of existing airports before looking elsewhere.

"We've got lots of capacity," he said. "Generally speaking, environmental impact is less on expanding existing sites than on building new sites."

Roger Higman, senior campaigner for Friends of the Earth, has visited Cliffe and seen it as a site of special scientific interest and rich bird life. FOE does not want any airport expansion. "There are enough flying objects in Cliffe at the moment," he said.