Heathrow today warned its capacity constraints mean that rival European hub airports continue to have a competitive advantage in connecting to China.
The caution coincided with two new direct routes to the Chinese cities of Wuhan and Sanya being introduced from Heathrow this summer.
The connection to Sanya on the holiday island of Hainan will be a first for Europe when flights start on July 12.
China Southern yesterday started three flights a week to Wuhan, a mega-city referred to as the ‘Chicago of China’, before beginning two flights a week to Sanya.
These routes will provide 110,000 new seats for passengers travelling to China.
Last year’s services to China via Heathrow contributed £510 million to the UK economy, and supported up to 15,000 jobs, according to Frontier Economics.
But the airport said: “While connections to Chinese cities are clearly valuable to the UK, rival EU hub airports with capacity to connect directly to ten other Chinese destinations, including mega cities like Hangzhou, Chengdu, and Kunming, are facilitating more trade and investment to their respective countries.”
The government is expected to vote on a National Policy Statement on Heathrow’s plans for expansion over the coming weeks.
A third runway will allow the airport the capacity to offer up to 40 new long-haul destinations, Heathrow argues.
Heathrow chairman Lord Deighton said: “A third runway will better enable British exporters to compete on a global stage, and we urge the government to table its final National Policy Statement on expansion so that Parliament can vote and we can get on and deliver it.”
Chinese ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, added: “I would like to extend my congratulations on the launch of the new air routes this summer linking London Heathrow with two bustling Chinese cities of Wuhan and Sanya respectively.
“The key to sound relationships between states lies in the affinity between the peoples, which largely stems from mutual understanding.
“I sincerely hope that these new routes will become bridges of mutual understanding and friendship between our two peoples, facilitating travels and exchanges between our two countries and giving fresh impetus to the golden era of the China-UK relationship.”