LONDON – Heathrow's chief executive said on Monday he would push the British government for a final decision on constructing a 3rd runway at London airport by the tip of 2025, adding that recent discussions had shown “positive momentum”. would have.
Thomas Woldbye told the Airlines 2024 conference that the airport needed additional capability and that this might support economic growth and the federal government's industrial strategy. Ultimately, nonetheless, it’s as much as the state to approve the plans, which have been hotly disputed for a long time, he said.
“Heathrow is running out of capacity… So if we want to exceed a certain number at Heathrow, be it 90 million passengers or something close to that, we need a third runway, that's not a discussion,” Woldbye said.
“So the subsequent query is how we will make that occur if we wish to. 'We' here isn't just Heathrow, it's the airlines, it's the federal government, it's Parliament, it's everyone around us. Because if the UK doesn't try this.” “If we wish a runway, why construct it? And Heathrow doesn't have to determine that… But the transport strategy is a government matter,” Woldbye said, admitting it was “not a simple decision.”
“The project is there, we know how to build it. It’s been around for a long time,” he continued. “I will [the U.K. government] And saying all that, the demand is there. But this would be one of the biggest infrastructure projects in UK history, so we have to ask the government: are you on board? If not, we forget about it.”
Woldbye added that there was “definitely positive momentum” behind such discussions with the new Labor government and that he expected a final decision “one way or another” by the end of 2025.
“Otherwise we will continue to waste money and time. I’m serious about making a decision and making the right decision,” he said. Woldbye said the airport needed to make a clear, calculated proposal to Heathrow shareholders that he believed would gain support if the project was approved by the government but not publicly funded.
The airport is trying to increase capacity as much as possible through efficiency measures on its existing two runways and is developing a growth plan that does not include a third runway, he said.
British Transport Secretary Louise Haigh told the same conference earlier in the day: “I’ll at all times support airport expansion so long as it boosts our economy and meets our environmental commitments.”
The debate over whether to build a third runway at Europe's busiest airport has been going on for almost two decades, and so are the plans for it has been the subject of numerous regulatory and legal reviews and public consultations.
Environmental groups like Friends of the Earth strongly oppose expansion of Heathrow on the grounds that it would increase greenhouse gas emissions and harm local wildlife. Others argue that this will be the case increase noise pollution and traffic in a busy residential area and require significant public disruption, including extensive work on the M25, the main road around London.
In 2020, the United Kingdom's highest court overturned a lower court decision that found a previous government's approval of a third runway was unlawful because it did not take into account the country's obligations under the Paris Agreement .
Heathrow's expansion would be welcomed by many airlines, which have long complained about the fierce competition and high costs of buying slots at the transport hub.
Passenger numbers at Heathrow rose from 62 million in 2022 to 79 million in 2023 as the pandemic travel recovery continued. The airline's record was 80.9 million passengers in 2019.
Under The airport expansion proposal published six years agowhat’s The project is anticipated to be updated and can include the development of a 3rd runway northwest of the present two, in addition to the development of a brand new terminal constructing to interchange the prevailing Terminal 3.
Flight operations are currently limited to 480,000 flights per yr, while the present plan calls for a further 260,000 flights per yr.
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