Reported in the Times yesterday:
July 04, 2002
Third Heathrow runway back on agenda
By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent
THE Government is considering expanding Heathrow further as one option for relieving congestion at airports in the South East.
John Spellar, the Transport Minister, gave the clearest indication to date yesterday that the Government is prepared to sanction a third runway at the West London airport. He said that Heathrow played a crucial role in London’s economic success and was a key reason why so many of the world’s biggest companies had their headquarters in the capital.
He added that Heathrow had been “the UK’s premier airport for half a century. It handles 20 million more international passengers per annum than any other airport in the world.”
Other runways are also likely to be sanctioned, including up to two more at Stansted in Essex. However, ministers believe that expanding Stansted alone would not address the huge demand for more flights from Heathrow. Stansted is three times as far from London and lacks a local workforce to support a major hub in the short term.
Mr Spellar said: “Many large and international companies chose to have corporate headquarters within a stone’s throw of Heathrow.” Business groups argue that those companies could relocate elsewhere in Europe if told that the only expansion will be at Stansted.
Mr Spellar told an audience of aviation industry leaders in London that the “Government does recognise that there are very distinct benefits in having a major hub airport, capable of serving the widest range of destinations”. Heathrow’s main European competitors had understood the need for one very large airport. Amsterdam’s Schiphol, Frankfurt, and Paris’s Charles de Gaulle had all been allowed to build extra runways and had far greater capacity than Heathrow.
Mr Spellar added: “The issue of Heathrow is highly significant and at the centre of any discussion about capacity at South East airports.”
The Department for Transport plans to publish consultation papers on aviation growth in different regions within the next three weeks. The paper covering the South East will be by far the most controversial because that is where runways are most congested and community groups fiercely oppose any expansion.
Mr Spellar has already made clear that several new runways will be needed in the South East during the next 30 years to accommodate a threefold demand for air travel in the region by 2030 to 300 million a year. He said that ticket prices would rise by an average of £100 each in real terms by 2030 unless new runways were built.
Mr Spellar’s comments indicate that he has accepted arguments offered by British Airways, which says that the overwhelming demand from passengers and businesses is for expanding Heathrow.
BA has proposed a short runway north of the existing twin runways at Heathrow and for short-haul jets. At least 100 homes would have to be demolished to accommodate a new 2,000 yard runway between Harmondsworth and Sipson. The Government last year approved a fifth terminal at Heathrow, allowing the airport to handle an extra 30 million passengers a year. A new runway would require a sixth terminal and would push Heathrow’s capacity to more than 100 million passengers.
Mr Spellar acknowledged that any airport expansion plans would include measures to limit noise pollution and congestion on surrounding roads. He added, however: “It’s true to say that the number of people affected by noise at Heathrow has dramatically reduced over the past 20 years.”