Twat of the day (8)

Councillor Daniel Moylan, Chairman, Transport and Environment Committee, London Councils, in yesterday's FT:

... about 34 per cent of passengers landing at Heathrow are transferring to connecting flights and therefore not investing in London's economy.

Ahem.

Around 70,000 people are employed at Heathrow. If around 34 per cent of those jobs relate to connecting flights, then connecting passengers support around 24,000 workers. Assuming that Heathrow workers earn average salaries, their total salaries are £600 million per annum.

Heathrow handles 68 million passengers a year. Assuming that 34% of them spend a fiver on coffees, newspapers etc while they are waiting for connection, that's another £100 million.

Greater London's population is 7.5 million, so on average, each inhabitant earns about £100 a year from transit passengers.