Pie in the Sky

Airport expansion is frequently justified by the Government and aviation industry on the grounds of the huge benefits it will bring to the UK economy.

plane in flight

of the Earth has published a report examining the economic case for airport expansion made by the Government and aviation industry. We found :

exaggerated economic benefits.
economic costs of environmental damage have been ignored.
economic costs to other sectors of the economy have not been considered.

Overall we found that expanding airports will have considerable economic costs that will outweigh the marginal economic benefits. It would be better for the UK economy and the environment if the Government cancels its airport expansion plans.

Resource

Pie in the Sky
(PDF† - 419K) September 2006
Summary report (PDF† - 66K)
This briefing shows how the economic costs of aviation expansion outweigh the benefits claimed by Government and the industry.

†To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.

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