HAVING read Leo Enticknap's recent letter about his desire for a commercial airport at Elvington (December 2), I would like to make a few comments.

Air travel is the most polluting form of transport and is, thus, the most environmentally harmful. Added to this the increased noise pollution and road congestion for the area around the proposed airport would make locals shudder.

Most small airports have incredibly limited services. Although large sums of money have been spent at the airports in Carlisle and Cambridge, both of these effectively have no regular air services.

Could this perhaps be due to the fact that both cities have excellent rail links just as York does?

People may think that a local airport would offer regular flights to every destination they require at a low price. That is utter rubbish. Even services from Leeds-Bradford International are fairly limited and high prices generally mean that people travel to airports further away for low-cost flights.

I don't know anyone who has used Leeds/Bradford, so if there is a big demand for local air services then why do people continue to travel to the likes of Heathrow, Stansted, Luton and Manchester?

York has first class rail services and it would cost a massive amount of money to develop an airport at Elvington. Where would that money come from?

York to London by train takes one hour 45 minutes. Allowing locals an hour to travel to a proposed new Elvington airport, two to three hours check-in, the half-an-hour flight to Heathrow, another one-and-a-half hours to central London and with all sorts of possible delays, would any normal person ever consider flying to London?

York would gain absolutely nothing in having an airport, except perhaps a huge white elephant that would cost a large amount of money.

Mr D R Edwards,

Newborough Street,

Bootham, York.

Updated: 09:58 Tuesday, December 20, 2005