By Richard Johnstone | 17 December 2013
The government’s airport commission has selected expansion of Heathrow or Gatwick airport as the best way to provide additional runway capacity in the Southeast of England, but has not ruled out creation of an entirely new facility.
The commission, which was established last September to examine the case for expansion in the Southeast, concluded today there will be a need for an additional runway to be in operation by 2030. Its analysis also indicated there was likely to be a case for a second additional runway by 2050.
Further study will now be undertaken by the commission to examine Gatwick Airport’s proposal for a new runway to the south of the existing runway, and two options to expand Heathrow.
The first, promoted by the airport itself, is to create a new 3,500m runway to the northwest, while the other, proposed by the Heathrow Hub group, called for the existing northern runway to be doubled in length, allowing it to operate as two independent runways.
In addition, the commission said it would further examine plans for a new airport in the Thames Estuary, which is supported by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson. It said it had been unable to shortlist the plan for an airport at the Isle of Grain because of ‘uncertainties and challenges’ in the proposal, but would announce in 2014 if this plan was being taken forward to final consideration. A recommendation will be made to government on the best expansion plan in the summer of 2015.
Commission chair Sir Howard Davies said the UK currently had excellent connectivity through its airports.
However, the country faced a need for additional capacity, he said. ‘The commission will now focus on the challenge of appraising the three options, further assessing the case for a new airport in the Thames Estuary, and delivering a robust final recommendation to government in summer 2015.’
Today’s report also made a number of recommendations to government for immediate action to improve the use of existing runway capacity.
As part of an ‘optimisation strategy’, surface transport to airports with spare capacity should be improved to make them more attractive to airlines and passengers. This should include enhancements to both road and rail access to Gatwick and improvements to the rail links between the centre of London and Stansted.
