British Airport Puts Expansion on Hold
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
London Heathrow, one of the world’s most used and most well-known airports has been planning an expansion for some time now. In 2003, the government expressed interest in adding a third runway to the airport. After much debate, a decision to actually fund and start the process of constructing the extra runway was slated to be made this month. However, the poor state of the airline industry has forced Heathrow’s decision-makers and the British government to take a closer look at the necessity of a third runway.
Heathrow currently sees 480,000 flights per year. If a new runway was added, the number could rise to nearly 700,000 per year. The problem? It is hard to see into the future. Construction would begin in the next year or two, but the project would take several years to complete. If it is approved, it would take nearly 10 years from the start date before the capacity of 700,000 flights per year was reached.
Transportation secretary Geoff Hoon has promised that the current indecision about the runway project will not last long. He expects to announce the final decision before England’s parliament in January of next year.
Airports in the US have recently completed runway expansions. Chicago O’Hare is the biggest name to open up a new runway. The expansion was completed earlier this year and the new runway opened in time for the Thanksgiving holiday season. Many critics say that O’Hare’s expansion was not needed. With air travel at a minimum now, the air traffic at O’Hare is a thing of the past. However, since the project was started so long ago, it was impossible for airport authorities to predict the current state of the industry. Hoon and England’s government face a similar decision. No airport in England will be able to challenge Heathrow as insular Europe’s major hub, so if the industry ever does pick up, the third runway would be a welcome addition.