Gatwick vs. Heathrow: Top 100 Influencers and Brands

The Gatwick vs. Heathrow debate began in September 2012 when the Airports Commission was established by the Department of Transport, with a mandate to set out how the United Kingdom could: “maintain its status as an international hub for aviation” as it was losing routes to other European hubs. Nearly 3 years later in July 2015 the Airports Commission, chaired by Sir Howard Davies, former chairman of the Financial Services Authority, published their report recommending that a third runway at Heathrow was the best way to expand the UK’s airport capacity. However many disagreed with these findings and the Gatwick vs. Heathrow debate has intensified whilst we’re waiting for the Government to make its final decision. Both airports have been strengthening their individual cases to win the backing of the government, and many thought leaders have been weighing in on the debate including politicians, journalists, and environmental campaigners.

Gatwick released their own report entitled “Response to Airports Commission Consultation” stating more work was needed to produce a thorough, balanced, fair, sound and robust assessment. A few key areas lacking in the Airport Commision’s report highlighted by Gatwick were: Traffic Forecasts where Gatwick’s traffic was understated, and capacity and traffic at Heathrow overstated; Economic Assessments, where inherent errors in traffic modelling, capacity assessment and the impact of competition were apparent; Cost and Financing, where a more in-depth assessment of the comparative costs, financial proposals and risks needs to be undertaken; and Air Quality and Noise, where the challenges facing Heathrow have been understated, and where greater transparency is needed to understand the impacts more clearly. A condition of Heathrow expansion is “acceptable” air quality, but the air around Heathrow already breaches EU limits. Heathrow’s expansion would break European air quality rules, delaying the construction of an extra runway and harming the environment.

Heathrow argue that only they can connect the UK to long-haul growth markets and make more routes financially viable for airlines, as Heathrow is where that demand is strongest. They also say they are the best placed to deliver jobs, more exports and business as 120 of the UK’s top 300 company HQs are within a 15 mile radius of Heathrow.

WHAT ARE THE EXPERTS SAYING?

We reached out to some of the top 10 influencers identified on our list to ask them for their views on the Gatwick vs. Heathrow debate.  We spoke to John Stewart from HACAN (#6), Liam Halligan from The Telegraph (#8), Darren Johnson AM from The Green Party (#11)  and John Rentoul from The Independent (#17). Be sure to follow them to stay up to date on their stories! (click on the names to see their Twitter profiles)

 

John Stewart – Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (HACAN)

 

“Twitter has helped liven up this debate and bring it to a wider audience.  And it is debate that will go on throughout 2016.  Few things are more controversial than a new runway.  It can bring big economic benefits but also cause huge problems for both the environment and people living under the flight paths.”

 

---

 Liam Halligan – The Telegraph

 

 

 

“It strikes me that with a price tag of £7bn, and involving far less home demolition and noise pollution, an extra Gatwick runway is a far more logical option.”

 

---

 

Darren Johnson AM – The Green Party

 

 

“Rather than Gatwick or Heathrow, being serious about the environment means saying no to both and using existing capacity more sensibly.”

 

---

 

 

John Rentoul – The Independent

 

 

“Heathrow third runway: not going to happen. Thirty per cent of all people affected by aircraft noise in the European Union live near Heathrow, and they have votes.”

 

MAPPING THE GATWICK VS. HEATHROW COMMUNITY

We were very interested in seeing which professionals and brands were leading the online discussion, so we analysed over 50K tweets matching the following query: “airport expansion” OR airportexpansion OR ((gatwick OR heathrow OR #lgw) AND (Expansion OR Runway OR Aviation OR Noise OR “Air Pollution” OR “Howard Davies” OR “Night flights” OR “Zac Goldsmith” OR Connectivity OR Hub OR “Air Quality”)) OR gatwickexpansion OR heathrowexpansion OR “Airport Commission” OR “Boris Island” and identified the top 100 most influential brands and individuals leading the discussion on Twitter. We discovered a very engaged community, with much discussion between individuals and brands, joining together in conversations. Below you can see a network map of the online conversation created with our Influencer Relationship Management software IRM. This map shows the brand Gatwick Obviously at the centre, and the conversations to and from all the influencers in that field.

 

 

Be sure to click on the map to enjoy the full size network diagram in greater detail!

Below you can see another network map created in IRM showing the brand Clean Air London at the centre, and the conversations to and from the different influencers. As you can see it is a very engaged community with many conversations. If you are interested in learning more about identifying, managing and engaging with influencers click here to get in touch!

 

TOP 100 INDIVIDUALS

We looked at all the individuals engaging on Twitter to bring you a list of the top 100 most influential individuals in the Gatwick vs. Heathrow debate.

Be sure to hit the download button below to grab the full report and see who ranks beyond the top 50.

Rank	Twitter Handle	Name	Organisation	Influencer Score
1	@BBCNormanS	norman smith	BBC	100
2	@ZacGoldsmith	Zac Goldsmith	Conservative Party	55.61
3	@danwtech	Dan Whitworth	BBC	43.26
4	@johnmcdonnellMP	John McDonnell	Labour Party	30.12
5	@SadiqKhan	Sadiq Khan MP	Labour Party	24.74
6	@HACAN1	John Stewart	HACAN	22.85
7	@EamonnHolmes	Eamonn Holmes	Sky News / ITV	21.96
8	@LiamHalligan	Liam Halligan	Telegraph	17.1
9	@hammersmithandy	Andy Slaughter MP	Labour Party	15.64
10	@BBCTomEdwards	Tom Edwards	BBC	15.12
11	@DarrenJohnsonAM	Darren Johnson AM	Green Party	14.74
12	@AdamAfriyie	Adam Afriyie	Conservative Party	11.39
13	@tania_mathias	Dr Tania Mathias	Conservative Party	10.39
14	@DavidLammy	David Lammy	Labour Party	9.25
15	@HackneyAbbott	Diane Abbott	Labour Party	9.11
16	@SunriseIsabel	Isabel Webster	Sky News	8.95
17	@JohnRentoul	John Rentoul	Independent	8.32
18	@GarethThomasMP	Gareth Thomas	Labour Co-op Party	7.99
19	@guyshrubsole	Guy Shrubsole	Friends of the Earth	7.59
20	@matthew1butcher	Matthew Butcher	Green Party	7.25
21	@natalieben	Natalie Bennett	Green Party	7.16
22	@AdamBienkov	Adam Bienkov	Politics.co.uk	6.74
23	@chrisshipitv	Chris Ship	ITV News	6.5
24	@CarolinePidgeon	Caroline Pidgeon	Liberal Democrats	6.35
25	@thomasforth	Tom Forth	imactivate	6.22
26	@FOHeming	Henry Heming ✈™	Menzies Aviation	5.52
27	@IainDale	Iain Dale	LBC Radio	5.22
28	@faisalislam	Faisal Islam	Sky News	4.96
29	@James_BG	James Murray	Business Green	4.75
30	@tom_chance	Tom Chance	Green Party	4.7
31	@susana_mendonca	Susana Mendonça	BBC	4.44
32	@RobBarnstone	Robert Barnstone	HACAN	4.38
33	@Jonathan__Leake	Jonathan Leake	Sunday Times	4.3
34	@jon_bartley	Jonathan Bartley	Green Party	3.76
35	@bencobley	Ben Cobley	Freelance Writer	3.44
36	@PickardJE	Jim Pickard	Financial Times	3.22
37	@MartinHoscik	Martin Hoscik	Mayorwatch	3.21
38	@flybyday63	mariabonita	British Airways	3.08
39	@rachel_hump	Rachel Humphreys	LBC Radio	2.99
40	@GreenJennyJones	Jenny Jones	Green Party	2.87
41	@kevinjgsmith	Kevin Smith	Global Justice	2.62
42	@gyxk56	Guy Martin	Sevenoaks Council	2.51
43	@SimonLLewis	Simon Lewis	UCL	2.38
44	@ladawncp	LaDawn	Freelance Writer	2.21
45	@ChrisMasonBBC	Chris Mason	BBC	2.19
46	@ChrisWarne_	Chris Warne	H+K strategies	2.19
47	@simonharrisitv	Simon Harris	ITV News	2.14
48	@sianberry	Sian Berry	Green Party	2.11
49	@jamespargeter	James Pargeter	Deloitte Real Estate	2.06
50	@AndrewSimms_uk	Andrew Simms	New Economics Foundation	2.02

 

TOP 100 BRANDS

With all the discussion and resources available online, our analysis produced a great set of independent information resources and communities. Influential brands such as The Today Programme, The Telegraph and BBC News are leading the debate.

Rank	Twitter Handle	Name	Influencer Score
1	@BBCr4today	BBC Radio 4 Today	100
2	@planestupid	Plane Stupid	73.86
3	@yourHeathrow	yourHeathrow	38.43
4	@HeathrowAirport	Heathrow Airport	38.07
5	@Gatwick_Airport	Gatwick Airport LGW	35.88
6	@Telegraph	The Telegraph	29.26
7	@teamcaroline_1	Team Caroline	22.83
8	@BBCNews	BBC News (UK)	28.46
9	@LGWobviously	Gatwick Obviously	25.47
10	@guardian	The Guardian	22.78
11	@AirportWatch	AirportWatch	18.84
12	@runwaysuk	Runways UK	18.74
13	@LBC	LBC	16.36
14	@CityAM	City A.M.	14.73
15	@BBCLondon949	BBC LONDON 94.9	14.41
16	@itvmeridian	ITV News Meridian	12.13
17	@BBCLondonNews	BBC London Newsroom	11.7
18	@itvnews	ITV News	10.8
19	@StopCityAirport	Stop City Airport ✈	8.57
20	@LetBritainFly	Let Britain Fly	8.02
21	@BackHeathrow	Back Heathrow	7.15
22	@TheGreenParty	The Green Party	7.02
23	@airlivenet	AirLive.net	6.98
24	@CityMetric	CityMetric	6.17
25	@LibDemPress	Lib Dem Press Office	5.87
26	@TeamKhan2015	Team Khan 2015	5.58
27	@CleanAirLondon	Clean Air in London	5.48
28	@wolmarforlondon	Wolmar for London	4.99
29	@politicshome	PoliticsHome	4.72
30	@transheathrow	Transition Heathrow	4.45
31	@TimesBusiness	TimesBusiness	4.18
32	@GreenLondonAMs	GreenLondonAMs	4.17
33	@nodashforgas	Reclaim The Power	4.13
34	@heathrow_biz	HeathrowBIZ	3.92
35	@LogicalCampaign	Logical Campaign	3.76
36	@ECIU_UK	ECIU	3.49
37	@DianeforLondon	Diane for London	3.48
38	@HeathrowNoise	Heathrow Noise	3.48
39	@BBCWorldatOne	The World at One	3.17
40	@GreenpeaceUK	Greenpeace UK	3.09
41	@MT_Aviation	MT Aviation ✈	2.9
42	@London_First	London First	2.86
43	@CarbonBrief	Carbon Brief	2.64
44	@MayorWatch	MayorWatch	2.62
45	@iealondon	IEA	2.51
46	@LBRUT	Richmond Council	2.48
47	@kewtweets	kewtweets	2.36
48	@daily_politics	DailySunday Politics	2.31
49	@BBCNewsnight	BBC Newsnight	2.29
50	@NATSPressOffice	NATS	2.15

 

Influencer Marketing campaigns generate impressive results, the average earned media value (EMV) from US influencer marketing programs was 1.4 times higher in H1 2015 than the overall average in full-year 2014. At Onalytica we love building these lists and want to give back to our loyal readers as much as we can. If you’re interested in other topics (such as Machine to Machine, Wearable Tech, Internet of Things) be sure to have a gander on our blog or why not propose some topics to us on twitter? We also build some very cool software to manage all of these influencers. Get a free demo today by clicking the button below!

REQUEST A FREE DEMO 

Disclaimer: As ever with these lists, it must be stressed that the ranking is by no means a definitive measurement of influence, as there is no such thing. The brands and individuals listed are undoubtedly influential when it comes to driving discussion in the Gatwick vs Heathrow debate. The PageRank based methodology we use to extract influencers on a particular topic takes into account the number and quality of contextual references that a user receives. These calculations are independent of a user’s number of followers, but we do filter our lists based on how much a user is engaged in the conversation and the influence they drive through their networks.

---

TAGS