November 27 2018, Hilton Hotel Heathrow T5: Some 300 SMEs lined up to meet the Heathrow Procurement Team and 50 closely-held major suppliers at the “Flagship” Heathrow Business Summit, in an event billed by the airport company as “the largest attendance in the event’s history.”
The Heathrow Business Summit capped a series of nine events held at locations across the UK in 2018, as Heathrow continues with what Lord Deighton, Heathrow Chairman, describes as “a structural effort to decentralise our supply chain across the UK.”
Talking to the British-Irish Airports EXPO, Deighton explained that over one-third of Heathrow’s tier 1 suppliers are SMEs, up from 20% five years ago. “The marked difference with the Heathrow Expansion is the efforts we are making to scour every corner of the country to embrace SMEs – it is so important we conduct the Heathrow Expansion, that Parliament has approved, in a way that allows the whole country to participate.”
British-Irish Airports EXPO showcases £30 billion CAPEX across UK & Eire
“With an 85% SME-exhibiting profile. the Heathrow-hosted British-Irish Airports EXPO next June entirely builds on Heathrow’s SME curation strategy,” said Paul Hogan, Director of the British-Irish Airports EXPO. “Many of the SMEs coming to the Business Summits to engage with Heathrow, and its partners, are also finding out about the Heathrow-hosted EXPO, and using it as a springboard to meet over 60 airports from across the UK and Ireland with approved CAPEX projects exceeding £30 billion. This includes the £1 billion Manchester Airport Transformation Programme, and the €350 million North Runway at Dublin – securing work at other airports is a resonant effect that Heathrow sees as a key benefit of both the Summits, and Heathrow Expansion itself.”
