Frankly, Boris only has himself to blame on the Government's decision to kick the issue into the long grass. The Government was slowly inching towards a U-turn on its opposition to Heathrow expansion until Boris's intervention scared the life out of them. If he wants a decision out of the government he needs to get behind Heathrow expansion. Of course he has his own agenda, and it has nothing to do with marginal seats under the flightpath, so that won't happen.
Birmingham as a hub, or any other UK airport (existing or future), is a side show, and best kept for the 1st April. If the hub is not at Heathrow it will be at Amsterdam, Paris-De Gaulle, or Frankfurt, it is as simple as that. Forget about the Libdems, they are happy to have no UK hub and oppose Boris Vanity Project White Elephant Island (BVPWEI) as well.
Interesting, isn't it, that BVPWEI is now estimated to cost £80bn including access infrastructure, with £30bn coming from public funds? Never going to happen, trust me. For a tiny fraction of that we could tunnelise/divert the M25 and other roads allowing for extra runway(s) to cross the M25 and be full length, and not need to demolish the Wraybury reservoir and/or Bedfont and Stanwell as proposed in some quarters.
The questions still remain unanswered:
(1) who pays for BVPWEI and why would they?
(2) how do you persuade the airlines and their pax to move there?
(3) how does BVPWEI ever get planning permission?
Last edited by Fairdealfrank; 7th Oct 2012 at 20:21.
Reason: clarity