As an ex airline employee and someone who lives under the LHR flight paths I think we have to accept the expansion of Heathrow.
Yes, I feel bad about the potential of having to bulldoze houses and relocate people. But the expansion to Heathrow simply has to be done if we are not to lose it's very coverted status as THE international hub in Europe if we haven't lost it already.
Yes, due to it's location the flight paths mean overflying densely populated areas and despite quieter aircraft, disturbance has got much worse in the past 5 years or so. I live with it, but I also live with the fact that Heathrow provides employment for thousands of people in the locality. As one of the posts above states - many companies have located themselves in order to make the most of Heathrow.
The major problem is that it will take so much time - T5 had a 2 or 3 year long inquiry (correct me if I am wrong) and will not be operational until 2008.
What we really need is a decent transport infrastructure. The Paddington - LHR link is excellent. I have used it many times. The Tube is not geared up for passengers with luggage - it takes an age to travel into Central London. So why not run non-stopping Tube trains into Central London ? Because the track layout does not permit this - well address that issue. Why not extend the proposed London Crosslink (now an active project I believe) via Reading or on to Gatwick (as suggested above). As for the roads/M25 - there we have another problem.
Crews travel from a very large catchment area and need to travel by car due to the nature of shift hours etc. So Mr. Darling, lets see see some plans to beef up transport to and from Heathrow for both passengers and employees in addition to these grandiose plans to expand Heathrow which I fully support.
Soap box put away now !
Last edited by Lost_luggage34; 23rd Jul 2002 at 18:38.