THE GREAT AIRPORT MUDDLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000600460016-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 17, 2000
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: April 28, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

! CPYRGHT
FOIAb3b FOIAb3b
Approved For Release 2000/08/03 : CIA-RDP75-00149ROOnsnnaRn
CPYRGHT
Doubts and muddle still surround the
thorny question of a new airport for
London. On 11 April Mr J. P. W. Mallalicu,
Minister of State at the Board of Trade,
told a conference of air experts that the
government's-decision would be announced
'within the next fortnight'. This could only
mean a decision in favour of Stansted, since
no other site for a third London airport
has been the subject of thorough survey and
inquiry. But the announcement has not yet
been made, and it now appears that cabinet
ministers as well as civil servants disagree.
The real cause for anxiety is that the
decision is being deferred in a double sense.
Even if the.governmeht now plumps firmly
for Stansted, the really big decisions -
The Great Airport Mudd)
MERVYN JONES.;-
Though good services of the Leeds-Rome .
type, especially in holiday traffic, would do;
something to relieve the load on London;
nothing can prevent that load from growing
'3icavier. General-purpose airports of the
Heathrow type are ultimately inadequate to
meet the situation; and the more such air-
ports we have, the more intractable be-
conics the problem of transit passengers C
crossing London from one to another. More
.and more thought, therefore, is being given' to a solution recognising the existence of ;
different kinds of traffic. This might .enable
London to manage indefinitely with ' only,
two passenger airports .(a 'separate freight 4-
airport may be desirable before 1980).
Short-haul passengers to British destina-.
tions,' Paris, Dublin and Amsterdam
Reuther, Quits-the
Consensus
Y.ANDREW KOPKIND
It is useful, if hardly comforting, to see the
Johnson administration as the very model
of a , modern, pragmatic, compassionate
Labour government. All the familiar,
endearing characteristics of Labourism are
there. ,Abroad, it follows a contradictory,
'destructive and-expedient foreign policy. At
home, it encourages monopolistic concentra-
tion and huge corporate profits, while meet-
;ing union demands with frozen stares. Its
'concepts of social welfare and democratic
participation are outmoded and inadequate,
and its leaders are out of touch with the
most exciting and progressive movements of
.the last 20 years. It has alienated the in-
tellectual class and ignored the under-class
expected in the 1970s - will remain to be- take happily to hourly shuttle services which
faced. For the fundamental case against ,'eliminate 'advance booking and check-in,
any such airport is that we should not
relieve the deficiencies of Heathrow by
building more Heathrows. We need to think
about airports for Britain - not just London
,
Under the Attlee government civil tolerate a long trip to the 'city centre, and
aviation was under the control of the ';'it Is hard to prevent them from bringing -
'. s-linistry of Transport. The MoT's powers' their cars and parking at the airport, since
included the construction, ownership and (;not be will
maoonbreturning. But there need management of airports. Gradually - the many night services,
turning-point was the Tory government's airport surrounded by housing is feasible. 1
Airports Act in 1961 -. this unity has been.( The long-distance passengers of the future
dissolved. The Board of Trade now has a .will travel, to a great extent, either in super
general responsibility, but most airports to- sonic aircraft or in jumbo jets carrying 500
day are under local ownership. There is'or'more people. It will be quite intolerable
certainly a+casp for decentralisation, but the '' to have them, milling about looking for
logical airport body would be a regional `;_50-seat buses, taxis and hire cars.-The'realJ
d
i
b
rports are owne
.
one. In fact most a
y - headaches in planning the big airport of tho
municipalities - so that we have,, for in- 1970s will not be sheer size or runway
stance, a fierce struggle for customers be.. 'length, but the scale of airport buildings and
tween Manchester and Liverpool airports customs ball, and transport from air-
which are only 30 miles apart. port to city. A form of mass transport.{rall
The cuckoo in this nest is the British or perhaps monorail) c1t grin so1e1 to air-
both of which worked so hard to brlna it
to power in the first place. Now, true to
form, it has suffered the resignation of its
most active and articulate union leader.
/"Walter Reuther's 'resignation' is informal,
'in the way that the Association of American
1 labour and government is only perceptual.
But the administration knows that labour is
} its most dependable constituency, and 'Big
Labour' - the leadership of the AFL-CIO
- perceives itself to be an integral part of
the administration. President Johnson gives
labour promises, of a sort; President George
Mcany delivers the votes, after a fashion.
For some reason, Reuther has lost his
sense of togetherness. His 1.5 million Auto
Workers comprise the biggest union still
within the Confederation (the Teamsters are
bigger, but outside the AFL-CIO), but in the
course of several months, he has become the
chief drop-out from the old school of con.
.~
Airports Authority. Aside from the wasting port needs will be a necessityg, and y the lug.
asset of Prestwick, the BAA's empire con- gage of each jumbo-iet regiment may also
airport men elsewhere jealously can it. ine"Jport is fast-and convenient, the airport could
London Airports Authority. It is true that reasonably be quite a distance from the
governments have been largely concerned to 'traveller's destination. Indeed, there are
safeguard London's supremacy over Paris and many reasons why no airport of sufficient
Frankfort as the big European air junction. size can be sited in the commuter belt.
Hence the increasing congestion at London's ' Where then could it be? If we give''
'airports, to which travellers from elsewhere supreme importance to the noise threat,
f
f
d
rom
ee
in Britain - either changing
er, ,we should plump for a big coastal airport.
services, or arriving in London by road or The site most favoured by this school of
rail - have significantly contributed. Man- '. thought is the Isle of Sheppey. On the other.
chester is the only other airport with much hand, there is a case for thinking priniarily?
in the way of transatlantic and European of the 'catchment area', and this would
services. Permission to develop such routes 'mean an airport quickly reached by.people
is a matter for the Air Transport Licensing .living both in London and in the Midlands
Board, whose policy remains heavily It must also be remembered that. a big
London-oriented. But conscious planning on airport employs 30,000 people. To build
these lines would soon involve decisions on .such an airport is in effect to build a new-
the building, expansion or limitation of town indeed it is more t1ian that if we
airports - in fact, an airport map of.Britain. want to avoid a single-industry town,
n A A
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of the
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Hoard of Tradjktyp
P&M 1 - Pease.2000/08/03: CIA-RDP75-00149R000600
with passengers limited to lugg.tge they can
carry. Since delays' are minimal, no elabor-
ate buildings with' shops and lounges are
necessary. Short-haul ? passengers won't
sensus. Last summer, he blasted the Con-
as 'intemperate, hysterical, jingoistic and
unworthy'. He then attacked Jay Lovcstone,
the ex-communist who now directs the AFL-
CIO's ferociously anti-communist foreign
operations as aminiature CIA. Last fall he
tried to redirect the whole foreign policy of
the . Confederation to an opening on the
Left; Meany defeated him. In December
Reuther called Big Labour 'complacent'; in
February he and his top assistants walked.
out of their offices on the Confederation's
governing boards (and Reuther resigned
from two para-CIA programmes w'tich the
organisation ran in Latin America and
,Africa). Last weekend he got the virtually
unanimous consent of a United Auto
Workers' Special congress to withdraw from
,the AFL-CIO entirely, whenever he wants.
960016_2