Manchester Airports Group (MAG) CEO Ken O’Toole has called on the government to include aviation in its new industrial strategy and to treat the sector as a “critical enabler for growth.”

“That means making enough Sustainable Aviation Fuel here in the UK, it means investing in high-speed rail connections between cities and airports, and it means developing regional growth strategies that recognise the importance of our links with the world’s most important markets,” O’Toole said in an opinion piece in The Times. 

“Put simply, playing to our strengths means putting a sustainable growth plan for aviation at the heart of a sustainable growth plan for the UK.”

The statements by O’Toole, who heads the UK’s biggest airport group, come as Chancellor Rachel Reeves addresses the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, laying the groundwork for the government’s new industrial strategy, set to be unveiled late next month. 

O’Toole said investing in aviation would help the growth of high value, faster-growing industries such as financial services, life sciences and technology.

“As an island trading nation, we are more reliant on our international air routes than other major economies and if we don’t – as a minimum – maintain current connectivity levels, that £10.6bn could be at risk,” said O’Toole, whose company runs Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports. 

He gave the example of Space Zero, a Manchester-based designer of educational spaces that now trades in multiple global markets.

“Up and down the country, there are hundreds of similar success stories to Space Zero,” he said. “We need the right policy-support to deliver the connectivity these globally-ambitious firms crave, while also hitting our shared net zero target.”