London mayor says Britain faces catastrophe without expansion of airport capacity

LONDON – London's mayor says the British government is risking economic catastrophe by not quickly expanding airport capacity.

Boris Johnson says London is losing out to other European cities because the government of Prime Minister David Cameron won't act.

Under pressure to build a third runway at Heathrow, London's busiest airport, the government has ordered a review into airport capacity. But it will not report until 2015.

In a speech Thursday, Johnson — like Cameron a member of the Conservative Party — criticized the "lamentable attention that the government has paid to this pressing issue" and said it "sets a course for economic catastrophe."

Johnson opposes expanding Heathrow and favors a new air hub in the Thames estuary — dubbed "Boris Island" — or at Stansted Airport to the north.