PRESS RELEASE FROM LORD SOLEY OF HAMMERSMITH
                                    
CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR, FUTURE HEATHROW
                                     

CLIMATE CHANGE AND AVIATION – PEER CALLS FOR A
PLANNED REACTION NOT A PANIC REACTION 

Speaking at a business breakfast meeting of the Richmond Chamber of 
Commerce Lord Soley, Campaign Director of Future Heathrow said 
“Mayor Ken Livingston is making a very serious mistake in 
underestimating the competition to Heathrow airport. Heathrow has 
already been overtaken by Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam and Munich in 
the number of destinations served. Soon it will be overtaken by Milan, 
Rome and Madrid. His negative attitude to one of London’s premier 
assets is very damaging.

If the Mayor were to be successful in preventing the expansion of 
Heathrow then London’s position as a key international centre for 
business and commerce would be threatened.” 

Pointing to the importance of Heathrow to London’s population, Lord 
Soley said “The Mayor is rightly proud of London’s cultural and ethnic 
diversity and it is important that people are able to maintain links with 
their family and friends overseas. The recent Civil Aviation Authority 
passenger survey showed that 33% of the people using the airport were 
visiting friends and relatives.”

On the important issue of climate change Lord Soley said “Virtually 
everyone now takes climate change very seriously and that includes 
nearly everyone in the aviation industry but we need a planned reaction, 
not a panic reaction. The Stern report indicates the way forward and 
everyone in business and all of us in our personal lives need to do our 
best to reduce carbon emissions. But we will do no one any favours if we 
target Heathrow’s modernisation and expansion in the naïve belief that 
this will solve the problem of climate change. The majority of the 
population know that we need a more sophisticated response to this 
problem”. 
                                    ENDS
                        
Note to Editors

Future Heathrow is a coalition of Business groups, trade unions, airlines 
and professional organisations. It seeks the modernisation of Heathrow, a 
third runway and an emphasis on sustainability in aviation.

The latest Civil Aviation Authority passenger survey of Heathrow 
showed that:
34% of passengers were business travellers;
33% were visiting relatives and friends;
28% were leisure travellers.


Contact:
Lord Soley of Hammersmith
Tel: 07785 250 456

________________________________________________________________________________________________
Room 1042, Queens Building, Heathrow Airport, Hounslow, Middlesex, TW6 1BU. T: 020 8757 3936 
F: 020 8745 0155 E: info@futureheathrow.org  W: www.futureheathrow.org

Members: AMICUS, ATAG, BALPA, BAR UK, BATA, bmi, British Airways, Boeing UK, CBI, Destination Heathrow, GMB, 
IATA, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Airline Operators Committee, London First, 
Thames Valley Economic Partnership,TUC, TGWU, Virgin Atlantic Airways, West London Business