By John Elvidge

A country’s economic health is reflected in the performance of its airports and the strength of its connections with the outside world. By that measure, Scotland is in rude health.

Since 1999, the number of people using Edinburgh Airport every year has doubled, and its network of international routes is now one towards which many large European airports cast envious looks. Nearly 22 million people use the busiest airports at Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, an increase of more than 50 per cent in the same period.

How did this come about? Well, in 2009, the Competition Commission concluded that BAA’s mass ownership of the UK’s airports had an adverse effect on competition. The commission mandated BAA to sell two of its London airports and one of Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Gatwick was sold in 2009, Edinburgh in 2012 and Stansted in early 2013. More recently, Glasgow and Aberdeen have also been sold.

The benefits of competition quickly manifested themselves. At Gatwick, service improved and investment is focused on passenger facilities.

At Edinburgh, where I am chairman, real decision-making was brought to Scotland’s capital for the first time; we are investing £150 million in facilities and have delivered around 50 new routes. Despite some obvious challenges, more will follow.

Edinburgh is now the best connected of our major cities. The network of direct international routes is a reflection of its enduring global attractiveness as a place to visit and enjoy word-class cultural and sporting events, and as a place to do business.

Passengers fly direct to many cities in the Middle East, North America and Europe. Global airlines such as American Airlines, Delta, Etihad, Emirates, Qatar, Turkish Airlines and United have all voted with their planes, and put down roots in Scotland.

The benefits of competition in the airports market have been demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt.

Glasgow and Aberdeen have joined Edinburgh in taking advantage of the competitive opportunities that have arisen from no longer playing second fiddle to Heathrow.

How far can that success go? Based on our rapid growth over the past two years and the huge success of our new long-haul routes, perhaps we can view as a serious ambition the future prospect of travellers choosing Scotland as a hub through which to connect. That would be a powerful enhancement of our business community's ability to sustain and build upon Scotland's global competitiveness.

Strengthening our competitiveness in aviation serves the interests of everyone. As in other consumer-facing industries the simple economics of competition delivers lower prices and competition forces greater transparency, innovation and better service. Competition must surely beat monopoly every time.

If our ambition is positive economic balance with London and the south east, rather than dependence, what do we need to do and not do in our approach to airports in order to achieve that?

Part of the answer is to remove barriers to competitiveness, as the Scottish Government is committed to doing with reductions in Air Passenger Duty. Part of the answer is to have the best internal air connectivity within the UK that we can, ensuring that we retain good links with all the London airports. Part of the answer is to make sure that our potential for growth and competitiveness is not smothered by changes elsewhere.

The story of Scotland's recent success in growing our share of international air travel is one of stepping out of an ownership structure for airports in which everything was overshadowed by a focus on Heathrow.

We now have to be aware of the risks that building a new runway at Heathrow would bring. The view of the Airports Commission that Heathrow is the answer to the UK’s long-running capacity question threatens to stifle competition by creating a new and expensive monopoly.

Heathrow’s case for the nations and regions of the UK is built on an old-fashioned assumption that we in Scotland are to be forever dependent on a giant monopoly airport in the south east for our long-term economic success and prosperity. Who wants to settle for that?

We have the heritage and culture, the cities, the tourism offer, the infrastructure and the political will to do so much better and to build world-class airports infrastructure right here. Our ambition stretches beyond just feeding a steroid-enhanced Heathrow.

I hope the Prime Minister will put the interests of every part of these islands at the heart of his decision and put the liberating effects of competition and innovation before establishing a new London monopoly.

Sir John Elvidge is chairman of Edinburgh Airport