Airport Planning and Regulation in the United Kingdom

This chapter will investigate the effectiveness of the airport planning and regulatory system in the United Kingdom and assess the appropriateness of the current ownership structure. The airport industry in the United Kingdom has shifted from public to private sector ownership over the last twenty years as a result of new policy directions initiated by the desire of the 1980s conservative government to privatize public utilities. At the same time, air traffic growth has been strong, encouraged by a more liberal environment and in particular by the emergence of low-cost carriers (LCCs). Throughout this period there have been pressures on capacity at airports in London and the southeast of England, especially at Heathrow, and these pressures have had a major impact on the development of the United Kingdom airport industry.