SOUTHAMPTON's airport could do with improvements, the Trades Union Congress has said.

New runways should also be built at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted so that the UK remains at the heart of future air travel in Europe and secures tens of thousands of jobs, said the union organisation.

Improvements ought to be made to many of the region's other airports, Luton, London City and Norwich, while rail links to all airports in and around the capital should be enhanced, according to a submission by the TUC to a government study.

The report said building new runways would not be popular with community and environmental groups, but the cost of doing nothing was "too awful to contemplate".

A spokesman for Southampton Airport welcomed the TUC's consultation document on the importance of air travel in the UK.

But she stressed: "We have a superb infrastructure here already."