DALLAS — According to Vincent Hodder, the chief executive of Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA), the United Kingdom’s 13th busiest airport, could be seeing flights to the Middle East and the United States by 2027. The plan is backed by US$255 million (GBP £ 250 million) and is part of the airport’s recently updated vision for 2030. 

Passenger numbers are set to increase from a little more than four million in 2023 to seven million by 2030, prompting the update to the vision for 2030. 

The executive stated, “We’re already having those conversations with airlines from North America and the Middle East about how we can collectively work together to make those things happen over the next two to three years,” adding that he would “be disappointed” if LBA did not have flights connecting Leeds to the Middle East and the United States by 2027.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Hodder said that Leeds Bradford could see new destinations such as Jeddah, Oman, and Dubai in the Middle East and Chicago, New York, and Boston in the USA. 

Leeds Bradford Airport has said the new plan would create 5,500 new direct and indirect jobs and contribute $1.2 billion (GBP £ 1 billion) to the regional economy.

The plan has been met with some opposition, particularly from climate activist groups. They say that an increase to seven million yearly passengers would drastically increase greenhouse emissions. One climate campaigner group, the Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport (GALBA), called the airport’s new expansion plans “deeply irresponsible.” 

The Chair of GALBA, Nick Hodgkinson, expressed concern, saying, “LBA’s expansion announcement comes less than a month after the expert Climate Change Committee restated its advice to the government to ‘stop airport expansion without a UK-wide capacity management framework’. The reason we need to manage capacity is simple: more flying means more greenhouse gas emissions, but we know we must radically cut those emissions as fast as possible.”

Mr Hodgkinson added, “At present, the only reliable way to do that is to limit flying by limiting the capacity of airports. One day, there may be clean fuels, used at large scale for all flight distances, which are proven to reduce the greenhouse gases caused by flying. But currently, those fuels only exist at a small scale – some are barely off the drawing board. Right now, the only way to control greenhouse gases from flying is not to fly more planes."