A leading figure in the aviation sector believes London's Heathrow Airport is in desperate need of a new runway.

Phil Rawlings, UK manager for Emirates, is the latest person to speak out in the debate on how the UK should expand its airport capacity.

He told the Loadstar: "If [Heathrow] is to survive, it needs another runway."

Some organisations have questioned Heathrow's commitment to air cargo and Mr Rawlings thinks airports need to offer freight facilities if they are to attract new airlines.

"20 per cent of our business comes from cargo. We factor in cargo on all of our operations," he added.

Recent figures provided by Heathrow Airport chiefs confirmed that air freight activity continued to fall in April 2013. Indeed, the volume of goods being handled at the aviation hub dropped by three per cent when compared with the corresponding month in 2012.

Nevertheless, it appears increasingly likely that Heathrow will be expanded in the future, as MPs on the Transport Committee recently said that adding a third and fourth runway at the facility is a more feasible way of boosting capacity in the south-east than building a new hub airport.