A general view of planes at Heathrow Airport in front of the London skyline on October 11, 2016 in London, England.
Jack Taylor | Getty Images News | Getty Images
LONDON – Heathrow Airport's chief executive said Monday he will lobby the UK government to make a final decision on building a third runway at London Airport by the end of 2025, adding that recent discussions have seen “positive momentum.”
Thomas Woldby told the Airlines 2024 conference that the airport needed additional capacity and that this would support the government's economic growth and industrial strategy. However, he said it will ultimately be up to the state to approve the plans, which have been highly controversial for decades.
“Heathrow is running out of capacity… so if we want to exceed a certain number at Heathrow, whether that's 90 million passengers or something around that, we need a third runway, that's not a debate,” Woldby said.
“The next thing is, how can we realize that, if that's what we want. The 'we' here is not just Heathrow, it's the airlines, it's the government, it's Parliament, it's everyone around us. Because if the UK doesn't do it,” he said Woldby: “If we want a runway, why build it and that is not up to Heathrow, we are the implementers… but the transport strategy is a government issue,” he admitted, “it is not an easy decision.”
He continued: “The project exists, and we know how to build it. It has been around for a long time.” “I'll go to (the UK government) and say all this, the demand is there. But this will be one of the biggest infrastructure projects in UK history, so we have to ask the government, are you along for the ride? If not, we forget about it.”
Woldby added that there was “certainly positive momentum” behind such discussions with the new Labor administration, and that he expected a final decision to be reached by the end of 2025 “one way or another”.
“Otherwise we will continue to waste money and time. I am serious about making the decision and making the right decision,” which will be guided by the UK's overall strategy, he said. Mr Woldby explained that if the project received government approval but no public funding, the airport would have to present a clear and expensive proposal to Heathrow shareholders which it believed would find support.
He said the airport is trying to increase capacity as much as possible through efficiency measures on its two current runways, and is developing a growth plan that does not include a third runway.
British Transport Secretary Louise Hay, speaking earlier in the day at the same conference, said: “I will always support airport expansion as long as it grows our economy and meets our environmental commitments.”
Debate over whether to build a third runway at Europe's busiest airport has been going on for nearly two decades, and the plans have been subject to numerous government and legal reviews and public consultations.
Environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth strongly oppose Heathrow expansion on the grounds that it will increase greenhouse gas emissions and harm local wildlife. Others argue that this would increase noise pollution and traffic in a busy residential area, and require major public disruption including major works on the M25, the main route around London.
In 2020, the UK Supreme 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 will be welcomed by many airlines, which have long complained of fierce competition and high costs of buying flight slots at the transport hub.
Heathrow's passenger numbers rose to 79 million in 2023 from 62 million in 2022 as pandemic travel continues to rebound. The airline's record was 80.9 million passengers in 2019.
Under the airport expansion proposal released six years ago, which is expected to be modernised, the project would see the construction of a third runway to the northwest of the two existing runways, along with the construction of a new terminal building to replace the current Terminal 3.
Its operations currently stand at 480,000 trips annually, while its current plan will add another 260,000 trips to this number.
