After almost three years of evidence taking and deliberation, the Airports Commission last week came up with its final recommendation: a third runway at Heathrow Airport was its preferred solution to help alleviate airport capacity constraints in the South East of England.

This is a sound decision and the UK Government now needs to work with Heathrow to make this happen.

However the Airports Commission process also allowed the light to shine to Gatwick Airport's ambitious plans for expansion and the capacity of the UK's regional airports, including those in Scotland, to attract more direct air services to complement the hub capacity provided by Heathrow. These are areas that we cannot afford to lose sight of as we plan for the future and equip our economy with the infrastructure that business needs to grow and to prosper.

In reality, the Gatwick option offers something very different to Heathrow. Where Heathrow is about linking British businesses to a vast array of long haul international destinations in key markets, Gatwick's proposition focuses on a breadth of short to medium haul destinations with scope for development of increased long haul services, with a particular opportunity for lower cost carriers where the benefits of competition could drive down price. In addition, Gatwick made much of its ability to act as a catalyst to allow Scotland's airports to compete for and win even more direct air routes, building on the progress spearheaded by Edinburgh and Glasgow Airports over recent years.

So whilst the development of Heathrow is a vital component of the UK's future aviation needs, it would befit the UK Government to consider all of the weight of evidence provided to the Commission by airports across the UK and use this to help develop a long term aviation strategy for the UK, firmly linked to our needs as a globally trading economy and playing to the strengths of our transport infrastructure.

Scotland needs a balance of international air connections with direct flights from Scottish Airports where possible and fast, effective connections to onward hub flights where necessary. We also need to improve surface links to our airports and ensure better links between modes of travel. Scotland's National Transport Strategy is almost a decade old and it is time for Governments north and south of the border to do more to enable the development of our transport assets to ensure that we are equipped to take advantage of the opportunities of tomorrow.

- Liz Cameron is chief executive of Scottish Chambers of Commerce