EXPANSION of Heathrow Airport must lead to better connections for Glasgow the UK Government has been warned.

Glasgow has lost six daily flights to Heathrow in the last 5 years as airlines focus on more lucrative long haul routes as the London hub operates at almost full capacity.

Business leaders in the city and Glasgow airport backed Heathrow for expansion as it offers the most onward routes not available at any other UK airport.

The Airports Commission report published yesterday favoured Heathrow over Gatwick for a new runway to deal with the capacity issue and the UK government will have the final decision to make.

The Commission chairman, Howard Davies, warned that measures need to be in place to ensure nations and regions across the UK benefit and additional capacity is not only taken up by long haul flights.

The ability of Heathrow to offer this and commitments from the airport helped gain support from others.

Heathrow offers flights to 75 destinations that no other in the UK does and almost half of passengers coming to Glasgow from Heathrow begin their trip outside the UK.

Glasgow Airport also warned access to the UK hub from the city must improve.

Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow Airport said: “Glasgow Airport will actively seek to secure direct links with hub airports throughout Europe and beyond. However, Scotland’s population is of a size which means it can only ever sustain a certain number of direct flights.

“It is for this reason we support the expansion of Heathrow, however, an expanded Heathrow must deliver further access for Glasgow and Scotland. We would call on the UK Government to act swiftly and implement the findings of the Airports Commission.”

One recommendation is a Public Service Obligation that domestic routes are safeguarded

Business leaders welcomed the recommendations and said better connections via Heathrow were essential for the city’s future competitiveness.

Stuart Patrick, chief Executive of Glasgow chamber of Commerce, said political leadership is now required to ensure the proposals are delivered effectively.

He said: “There’s enough demand right now to support additional flights to London. Many people in Glasgow are going via Edinburgh.”

He said Heathrow was crucial as although other hubs in Europe are available the frequency is not as good.

Mr Patrick added: “Flights to emerging markets like China from Frankfurt are growing faster than from Heathrow.

“But we don’t have the frequency from Glasgow to Frankfurt to make that viable and we are reliant on British Airways

Ross Martin of Scottish Council for Development and Industry, said: "The major London Airports are national infrastructure assets and they must serve the needs for the nations and regions of the UK. We particularly welcome the Commissions' view that additional capacity can halt the decline in our air connections with them.

The Scottish Government said Scottish airports need to maintain both direct flights abroad and strong links to London and called for a guaranteed level of access for domestic services.

Derek Mackay Transport Minister said: ““We want to ensure Scotland’s airports adequately benefit from this new capacity at Heathrow and reiterate our call for a defined minimum level of access for flights from Scotland. This would help Scottish businesses to connect to global markets and ensure that the significant numbers of inbound tourists travelling through Heathrow have the best possible access when it comes to connecting to Scotland.”