Answered by Sir Alan Haselhurst MP
Not really, because it is not business in the main that is using Stansted. 90% of air travel generally is leisure and certainly a high percentage at Stansted. You only have to look at the flights that... Show more »Not really, because it is not business in the main that is using Stansted. 90% of air travel generally is leisure and certainly a high percentage at Stansted. You only have to look at the flights that predominate at Stansted. Ryanair represents 70% of the business at Stansted, they offer cheap short haul flights to destinations in Europe principally. From a free market point of view I don’t have a difficulty with people choosing what to do but I think they are paying an artificially low price that is generating travel and we have to balance that good, the right of people to travel; for which I support, I think travel is a good thing; against now what we recognise as the environmental cost. I don’t honestly believe the restriction of growth at Stansted is standing in the way of businesses.
Yes, some businessmen use the cheap flights but it’s a tiny minority and Stansted has got capacity enough to be able satisfy that. The further you live from Stansted itself the more you get a general acquiescence in the idea that oh yes it’s a good idea for East Anglian's businesses that we have this growing airport, but reality is different. What other destinations inter-continentally which are served or likely to be served from Stansted, we have a few flights to the USA but if you are a business man in London would you come out to Stansted for the one a day flight to New York when if you go to Heathrow you’ve got eleven flights a day by British Airways alone before you add in the American and other carriers. So if something goes wrong you’ve got the added safety of transferring to another flight.
I don’t buy into the argument that this is the answer to the business man’s prayer that Stansted should grow experientially - yes some would take advantage, but if there was proper pricing by some of the other leisure travel then there is ample opportunity for business people to fly from Stansted but I think the evidence shows that it is not really businessmen who are supporting that airport.
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