Britain’s current government has thrown its weight behind the long-stalled plan to build a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport, but it could be well beyond ten years before it is operational—if ever.
First proposed in the 1980s, and almost started earlier this century, the £14 billion plan would significantly increase the airport’s capacity, but potentially also greatly increase its carbon and noise footprint. Rachel Reeves, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer or finance minister says construction would create 100,000 jobs and jumpstart the country’s economy.
Planning for the runway came to a halt when Boris Johnson became Prime Minister; as Mayor of London he had vowed to lie down in front of bulldozers to stop it.
Simon Calder, travel expert for the Independent (UK) recently pointed out some of the continuing obstacles, even if the plan is approved by Parliament. First, the Chancellor has asked Heathrow to come up with detailed plans by the coming summer. Then, the Department for Transport will need several months to review the plans and see how they fit with national airport policy. Once that’s done, there is a mandated 18-month public consultation, extending, likely, into late 2027. Then the transport secretary must approve the final plan.
And that, says Calder, is when several years of lawsuits from opponents will begin, citing issues of noise pollution, air pollution, climate change, and effects on local residents, roads and facilities. Reeves anticipates the new runway opening by 2035; Calder thinks that’s optimistic. And, in the background, there’s always the possibility that long before then another government change could cancel the project, as has happened with Britain’s HS-2 high-speed rail project.
Ironically, there’s a much shorter-term ‘fix’ to increase Heathrow’s capacity by about 15%. It’s called mixed-mode operation, and involves planes taking off and landing on the same runway—as soon as one takes off, another plane lands behind it. Instead, Heathrow dedicates one runway to take-offs and another to landings. London’s Gatwick airport, which uses mixed-mode, can move 55 flights per runway per hour, while Heathrow can handle only 45. But there’s a rub: at present, Heathrow swaps the two runways halfway through the day, giving some noise relief to different areas near the airport; mixed-mode would make the noise last all day.
