BAA chief executive Sir John Egan has claimed southeast airports will be gridlocked if BAA is not allowed to build a fifth terminal at Heathrow.
He argued Heathrow is already at overload and other BAA airports at Gatwick and Stansted are growing rapidly to their terminal capacity.
Speaking as the four-year public inquiry into T5 ended last Wednesday, Sir John said: “We are moving to a situation where all southeast airports will be full and it will be impossible for any more people to fly. It is unanimously accepted that demand will increase. Not to build Terminal Five would leave runway capacity underused.”
However, Sir John acknowledged the terminal would result in an 8% increase in flights.
BAA said Gatwick can handle 40m passengers with its one runway and plans have already been agreed to build a larger terminal at Stansted, giving it a 15m capacity.
However, Sir John said it was at Heathrow where a new terminal is needed to allow its two runways to be put to their full use. He pledged there would be no call for a third runway in the future.