Campaigners protesting against expansion at Heathrow Airport have rejected the view that it is vital for the UK to retain access to global markets.

Some UK businesses backed expansion through a national newspaper advert this week.

But chairman of campaign group HACAN, John Stewart, said: “A survey we carried out in 2006 showed that well over a third of the flights currently using the airport are to short-haul destinations in the UK and Europe.

“Paris remains Heathrow’s top destination with over fifty flights on a typical day. It is these flights which are clogging up the airport’s runways.”

He added: “This latest call for expansion shows just how divided the business community is on the Heathrow expansion.

“Earlier this year London First, representing big business in London, put the emphasis on a better rather than bigger Heathrow.

“And Bob Ayling, the former boss of British Airways, has said that Heathrow expansion would be ‘a costly mistake’.”

A decision on whether expansion will go ahead will be announced later this year.