‘Aviation
is the graveyard of Whitehall policymaking. For 40 years, successive
governments have dodged awkward decisions as airports serving London have
become increasingly overloaded. Pressures on Heathrow and Gatwick, already
grossly congested, are forecast to get much worse as demand for air travel
grows. A decision on where to site a new runway in the south-east is pressing.
The capacity problem can be solved only by a new airport to serve the
south-east… It took three decades of argument and public inquiries before a
single runway at Stansted got the go-ahead. This is one decision which
ministers hate to think about, let alone make. But, unless they do, the
capacity constraints, already serious, will become much worse.’
All
too familiar? Well, not much different from numerous articles we can read today
apart from the fact that this quoted text was published 14 years ago - ‘The problems stack up’, The Economist.
But what if this time
decision is delayed because of something we are still not aware of? Something
even more exciting than current development projects like electric aircraft, Clip-Air "train-to-plane",
or Solar Impulse?
Whatever the reason, let’s hope that interim solutions to fulfill an increased
need for flying will not spoil the enjoyment of air travel and all benefits
that come with it.
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