The owners of London’s Heathrow Airport have upped their campaign to construct a third runway with a report stating that the airport’s insufficient infrastructure is costing the UK £14bn each year in lost trade.

An analysis by the Civil Aviation Authority shows that Heathrow sees by far the most passengers across the UK airports, with 69,685,000 passengers from September 2011 to August 2012 compared to Gatwick’s 33,977,000 and Manchester’s 19,362,000.

Colin Matthews, CEO of Heathrow states in the report: “Ultimately, the Government has three options: do nothing and let the UK fall behind; add additional capacity at Heathrow; or close Heathrow and replace it with a new hub airport. None of the options for additional airport capacity is easy.

“Every choice, including doing nothing, has its consequences. However a clear positive decision would stimulate economic growth, create jobs, and help secure Britain’s competitiveness in a changing world.”

The report continues: “The UK is cutting itself off from growth. We could be missing out on up to £14 billion per year in lost trade due to poor connections. This lack of runway capacity has particularly hurt regional growth in the UK by pushing out aircraft serving regional routes.”

Click here to read the full report.