- No direct flights to Indonesia from UK
- Indonesia’s national airline buys Airbus planes but can’t land at the UK’s hub airport
- World’s fourth most populated country accounts for less than 0.2% of UK exports
David Cameron arrived in Indonesia today on the latest leg of his South-East Asia trade mission. Speaking after a deal was announced for Garuda airlines to buy eleven Airbus A330s, the UK Prime Minister said he wanted to link Britain to the fastest growing parts of the world like Indonesia and that there were huge opportunities for British businesses.
Heathrow welcomes the growing awareness within Government of the potential for emerging economies to boost trade and jobs. The UK is currently losing out on around £1.2bn of trade each year because of its lack of direct links to the fast growing emerging economies.
But to form those trade deals the UK desperately needs improved transport links to those countries. UK businesses trade twenty times as much with countries that have direct daily flights to the UK as with those that do not.
Unfortunately Indonesia is one of the key countries that have no direct daily flights to the UK. BAA research suggests 60,000 passengers would travel each year between Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, and Heathrow alone.
However, Heathrow is operating at 99.2% of capacity. There is no room for the flights to emerging economies that the airlines want to put on. David Cameron has welcomed the deal for Indonesia’s national carrier, Garuda, to buy eleven A330s, safeguarding British jobs.
Unfortunately none of those planes will be landing in the UK. British businesses will once again miss out on the trade opportunities and the job creation offered by the emerging economies.
A BAA spokesperson said, “It is good news that the Prime Minister recognises the importance of emerging economies. And by choosing to make his speech in one of the very countries that the UK is cut off from, David Cameron is making his point loud and clear. It is not enough to have one plane of business people visiting Indonesia once. Until the Government has an aviation policy which supports direct connections to emerging markets the Prime Minister will be fighting for British exports with one hand tied behind his back.”
