A MAJOR airline may be forced to look at expanding overseas instead of in the UK if no third runway is built at Heathrow Airport.

Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways (BA), said today, expansion is critical to both the local and national economy, describing the loss of local homes as "regrettable".

He said: "Heathrow is the UK's international hub airport.

"The main issue at the airport is runway capacity, one which the opening of Terminal 5 will not address."

He said the airport is "unique" as there are no spare runway slots, even at peak times.

He said although introducing mixed use of the airport's two runways for both taking off and landing will help, a third runway is still necessary.

He warned failure to expand the airport might force BA, which currently controls about 40 per cent of runway slots at Heathrow, to look elsewhere to grow its business.

He said: "This is why I support expansion, I want to focus on the UK.

"I do not believe Heathrow is as efficient as it could be, and it has to be able to compete with other major international airports.

"Most have more than two runways; for example Amsterdam has five.

"Heathrow is the world's busiest airport but it is not the most popular.

"If we want to have services to the world from the UK, you can't sustain that only with traffic that originates in the London area.

"You have to have additional transfer traffic."

Mr Walsh also called on local authorities to abandon their "opposition stances" on expansion.

He said: "An expanded Heathrow would bring many more jobs as international companies look to locate near a global gateway.

"I want to see those jobs go to local people.

"Councils near the airport should promote their development sites to attract investors, while ensuring young people have the skills new employers want.

"Local people know the benefits of Heathrow outweigh the disadvantages. I urge their council representatives to take the same view, and demonstrate leadership for the good of future generations."

He said the decision to expand, which would result in the loss of Sipson and part of Harmondsworth, would be a "tough call to make", but added: "We have to look at what's in the overall interest."

What do you think?

Leave your comments below: He said expansion would only take place under strict environmental controls, and aircraft noise would not increase beyond the level it was at in 2002.

To find out more about the Hillingdon Times' campaign against the third runway click the link below.