Sir – Your uncritical coverage of plans to bring large commercial jets into Oxford Airport (March 26) is surprising given the history of failure in recent years.

The airport’s ‘scheduled services’ webpage still talks optimistically about flights due to start in 2009 and 2010. Those flights to Geneva and the Channel Islands never worked, nor did the flights to Edinburgh or Cambridge.

The reasons are not hard to find. Birmingham airport is an hour by train from Oxford, and Southampton is an hour and 12 minutes. Heathrow is easily accessible by buses and beyond that are Luton, East Midlands and Bristol, all offering cheap flights and charters. The south-east needs another commercial airport like Oxford needs the noise and air pollution that this expansion would bring.

The only way this could work financially would be to attract travellers away from other airports, meaning more traffic around North Oxford. The county council talks relentlessly about its desire for a sustainable transport policy: this plan is the epitome of unsustainability.

It seems that Oxfordshire is short of land for economic development. In terms of jobs per acre, Oxford Airport is literally a waste of space. I would hope that county councillors resist any temptation to waste our money on this ludicrous enterprise.

Chris Church
Oxford Friends of the Earth