Airport abandons their costly response to the government's silly question
7th July 2007 by Martin Howes
The operators of London Luton Airport have announced their decision to abandon their "Master Plan".
An excellent decision for the environment
The Master Plan was the airport operator's answer to the government's question about expanding airport capacity. The government got the question wrong, paying insufficient attention to aviation's increasing contribution to global warming. Ask a silly question, get a silly answer. The airport operator has withdrawn their answer. I only hope that the government will re-word their question.
A good decision for the town's economy
The airport is the biggest source of employment in Luton. It is good for Luton that the airport remains a big employer. But it would not be good for the town if the airport expanded so much that it came to completely dominate the local economy. The shock to Luton's economy that occurred when the Vauxhall car factory closed shows what can happen if the town becomes too reliant on too few sources of employment.
Probably a wise decision for the operator
Implementing the proposals in the Master Plan would have required a truly massive investment. Given the nature and length of the arrangement between the company that runs the airport and the council's company that owns the airport, I never thought there was a strong business case for the operator to make that scale of investment.