Business leaders defend airport charges but admit: Public won't be happy

Published on Thursday 1 July 2010 21:13

EDINBURGH'S main business organisation has defended BAA's move to charge all visitors to the city's airport, saying it could help cut carbon emissions by reducing car journeys to the hub.

The capital's chamber of commerce had questioned whether the move would cut down on the number of people bringing private vehicles to the airport.

But spokesman Graham Bell said it had clearly "weighed up" the benefits of introducing the charge to help fund future expansion plans.

He added: "You only have to look at how the airport has expanded and the growth in passenger numbers it has seen over the last 20 years. It has been pretty critical to the city's economic success in that time.

"It is now the fastest-growing airport in the UK with a great record of expanding and attracting new airlines, spending a huge amount of money, and also has future expansion plans.

"It is also likely to come under a lot of pressure over its carbon emissions and is clearly trying to tackle the amount of private car travel to the airport.

"Will the general public be happy about this? Probably not, and it does open the debate about whether what motorists should be paying for. However, I'm sure they've done their homework on it.

"It probably won't change people's behaviour but will bring in important extra revenue."

However a spokesman for the Scottish Taxi Federation, which has fought a number of battles with BAA over securing proper access for black cab drivers at Edinburgh airport, expressed dismay.

He said: "It does sound as if Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce is singing from BAA's hymnsheet.

"Their whole justification for the blanket charging of passengers is just incomprehensible."