For most of the history of international air transport, London's Heathrow Airport has stood out as a global crossroads. But for how much longer? An increasing number of destinations where the world wants to travel do not cross through Heathrow.Heathrow is the world's busiest international airport and third busiest overall, handling 69.4 million passengers in 2011. But with its two runways operating at more than 99 per cent capacity, Heathrow is turning away airlines and new routes from emerging economies. Frontier Economics, a U.K.-based consultancy reports there are 21 emerging market destinations with daily flights to major European hubs that are not served from Heathrow, including seven major cities in China alone. "Airlines are ready to vote with their feet and base new flights outside of the U.K. because of a lack of government policy supporting aviation," said Colin Matthews, chief executive of BAA, the operator of Heathrow and five other British airports.
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