• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

You do not say that it is declining relatively to Frankfurt, Munich, Amsterdam and Paris? Everybody else does; all the experts do.

• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

Mayor, the problem here, as the unions and business say, is that at a crucial stage Heathrow will lose its role as a premier hub, particularly if there are threats from another major party to do something bizarre like wind it down and threaten all the jobs in the area.

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

I will immediately acknowledge that Hillingdon Council does fund the No Third Runway Action Group with over £50,000 a year and we will continue to do so throughout the campaign to stop the expansion of Heathrow. It is nice for Damian to visit my constituency as he flies out to Barbados and other places. I trust he gathers up his air miles for the rest of his family! I am sure he is declaring an interest. Mr Mayor, can I thank you for visiting my constituency and the village of Sipson; so rare an event was it that I believe...

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

I think what Damian is trying to put out is a complete red herring which Lord Soley has similarly has been putting out that in some ways if you do not allow the expansion of Heathrow you lose jobs there. I did not hear that from the villagers, for example, on Monday when the Environment Committee went there and in the town halls that have been packed houses for all the discourse on this issue in west London, for obvious reasons. I find the villain of the piece is really BAA. For example, what expansion of Heathrow there has been...

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

Indeed, can I say that I think it is a shame and a cynical exercise that BAA has chosen a spokesman in the form of the former MP for Ealing and Acton, a Labour MP, who is surprising a lot of his former constituents with the line he is taking, and dismaying them at the same time.

• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

Which is why we need the expansion as well. Has any money been paid by the GLA to anti-expansion groups over the years, to groups who oppose expansion at Heathrow?

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

I am clearly confused myself when I go through immigration whether I am in a shopping mall or immigration when I am going in and out of the airport. It has also been suggested that this is a very important issue for the City but it appears to me they are probably more concerned about taxation policy and how that affects the high flyers than necessarily the journey to Heathrow and what slots they can get from there.

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

Would I not be right in saying that this argument about whether or not there are so many parts of the world being represented in Heathrow is partly because the airlines themselves have been reducing their short-haul slots at Heathrow, particularly because they make more money out of their long-haul slots, and actually what they have been doing is clearing the decks of some of the short haul destinations in order to maximise their long haul slots for financial purposes? Therefore part of what Damian was talking about is based on their own decisions rather than anything to do with...

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

This argument that we are losing the variety of destinations at Heathrow is partly because the airlines themselves choose to serve more destinations that are long haul.

• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

In terms of destinations, for Heathrow we are down in 10 to 15 years by 15%, 20%. The major trade unions and the major business organisations are all saying that Heathrow is effectively winding down against its competitors: Frankfurt is going to open a new runway; Munich has now overtaken Heathrow. What do you say to people like the unions and the employers who are united in believing that Heathrow is winding down?