Chances are, if you’ve enjoyed any time abroad this summer, you’ve experienced the UK’s system of aviation. More and more people are enjoying the benefits of more affordable foreign travel, for business or pleasure. Up until the global crash in 2010, the numbers of UK air passengers had increased 100-fold since 1950. Despite a dip during the recession, growth has continued. By 2030 it is predicted that around 430 million will pass through the UK’s airports. Aviation is big business, on a par with coal or steel in the industrial revolution. In the area I represent in west London, 110,000 jobs depend on Heathrow.

Airlines are launching new routes to key emerging markets, such as British Airways who recently announced a new service to Seoul. China Southern Airlines is now flying from Heathrow to Guangzhou and Gatwick is showing its potential, for example with Air China’s new service to Beijing.

This vast expansion in opportunities and new horizons comes with a colossal price-tag. Over two million airplanes take off and land each year, consuming nearly a fifth of all energy use in the UK.  The impact on the environment is well understood. There is also the impact on local communities, with aircraft noise, especially night flights, causing real misery for thousands of householders.

The role of any responsible government must be to balance the need for jobs with the needs of the environment, and the needs of international business with local neighbourhoods. We should not be in the business of telling the first generation of medium and low income earners to benefit from budget air travel that they must stay at home; but we must not allow the expansion in more affordable air travel to blight our communities.

That’s why it was important to set up an independent commission, which is chaired by Sir Howard Davies, to review the need for and set out options for airport expansion. This was Labour’s idea, after all – and after 2010 Labour had called for cross-party working on this vital issue of our economic infrastructure.

The commission’s recommendations must be based on evidence, not ideology, and on reality not rhetoric. We’ve heard an obvious example of the latter from London’s mayor Boris Johnson, whose suggestion of closing down Heathrow and building a new island airport in the Thames estuary borders is bonkers and would pose a massive risk to the London, in particular west London, economy.

But the Conservative-led government  is dragging its heels. Sir Howard’s report on increasing capacity has been postponed by the coalition until after the 2015 election – a classic bit of Cameron politicking. I am pleased that Sir Howard announced this week that he will narrow down the options by the end of the year. Aviation policy is too important for the long grass. We need clarity on this debate and a consensus which also will lead to certainty and stability whatever the outcome – stability that is vital for business investment and growth. Last month I wrote to Sir Howard calling on his commission to provide clarity on the debate and to provide answers on some key areas:

•         First, an evidence-based decision on whether we need to increase our airport capacity;
•         Second, if we agree that we do, how to achieve it with our existing airports such as Heathrow. For example, whether we could achieve a ‘split hub’ with fast transport links between other sites.
•         Third, how we balance the needs of business, consumer and the environment, including targets for carbon emissions and curbs on night flights.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get it right. In the 1960s and 1970s, the expansion in air travel was technology-driven, and happened faster than public policy could catch up. Today, we have the chance to create a national consensus around aviation, and provide businesses, citizens and the wider economy the clear direction and leadership it needs.

Effective airports are essential to our economic competitiveness. We are already seeing innovations make a difference to capacity like BA’s new Airbus A380 which I visited last week. How we conduct ourselves in this debate is also being observed around the world. As Britain’s government prevaricates over its aviation strategy, China is meanwhile building 70 new airports, from scratch, over the next three years.

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Seema Malhotra is the Labour MP for Feltham and Heston. She tweets @SeemaMalhotra1

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Photo: Christian Bickel