Britain’s airports are beginning to resemble its prisons, with too many people crammed into facilities designed for a bygone era.

Passengers travelling through Heathrow, the world’s busiest international airport, get to their aircraft so bad-tempered and stressed that airline staff constantly have to apologise for problems not of their making. The obvious solution is to increase the size of the UK’s airports, particularly Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

BAA will start to increase Heathrow’s capacity next year when it opens Terminal 5, but much more is needed. Heathrow will need T5, the proposed replacement for Terminal 2 and at least one more additional terminal to meet future demand. Gatwick should be rebuilt and gain a second runway while Stansted needs both new runways and extra terminals.

Alternatively, a brave government could build a new airport near London. That is an idea that gets raised every few years before being battered down by South East nimbyism and political weakness.

Even when a rare decision is made to increase airport size, the planning system contrives to delay it for years. Terminal 5 began construction in 2002, the year it initially was scheduled to open.

However, BAA itself contributes to the problems. The company has preferred to chase retailing profits rather than to invest in terminals. As a result, it now manages assets that are among the worst in the developed world. Addressing the long-term need for world-class airports is vital to passenger sanity and the UK’s economic growth. It will require strong leadership from the Government and a change in focus from BAA.

In the short term, there are some fixes that could make air travel less torturous. BAA could reduce the amount of space that it gives to retailers and expand security, passport control and other queue-creating areas so that passengers feel less like herded cattle. Security restrictions imposed by the Government last year could be relaxed to speed up security lines. BAA should be encouraged to invest more in security personnel and equipment, particularly in new sensors that will do away with time-consuming activities such as removing shoes, belts and laptops.

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