LONDON (Reuters) - Airports operator BAA has urged the government to build up to three new runways in the London area over the next 30 years to avoid major "damage" to the country's competitiveness. "We can't afford to see in aviation the problems we have today on our railways," BAA chief executive designate Mike Clasper said in a statement on Monday, referring to decades of under investment in railway infrastructure. BAA said there were four options from which the government should choose: a runway for shorthaul flights at Heathrow; a second runway at Gatwick; and two more runways at Stansted. The government set out options in July last year to build more runways to cope with an estimated tripling in demand for air travel by 2030. Transport Secretary Alistair Darling is expected to make a decision on the options later this year. BAA said a prompt decision was needed on the first site for additional runway capacity in the southeast and land should be safeguarded at two other sites for future runways.

u mean that big building that was being built while my connection in heathrow was terminal 5?