UK rejects London mayor’s ‘ Boris Island’ airport plan
COMMISSION CHIEF FINDS IDEA TOO EXPENSIVE AND COMPLEX TO ADDRESS AVIATION NEEDS
London Mayor Boris Johnson’s plan to close Heathrow Airport and build a new hub on a peninsula in the Thames estuary was dismissed by an official study as too expensive and complex to address Britain’s aviation needs.
A four- runway hub on the Isle of Grain 60 km east of London could cost above £ 120 billion ( Dh425.7 billion) and would cause huge economic disruption while posing potentially insurmountable environmental concerns, Airports Commission Chairman Howard Davies said yesterday. He’ll now examine plans to expand Heathrow or establish a secondary hub at London Gatwick.
“There are serious doubts about the delivery and operation of a very large hub airport in the estuary,” Davies said in a report on why the proposal had been dropped from a shortlist of options for adding new airport capacity by 2030.
“We need to focus on solutions which are deliverable, affordable and set the right balance for the future of aviation in the UK.”
For Johnson, the state- appointed body’s findings come as a blow weeks after he announced plans for a return to national politics in a move that could presage a bid to succeed David Cameron as prime minister.
The Conservative politician, who opposes Heathrow’s development because of the extra aircraft noise, said yesterday that Davies had rejected the “only credible option” and that his future work will “become increasingly irrelevant” and unlikely to win government backing.
‘ Thorough assessment’
Still, the Department for Transport praised the commission “for carrying out such a thorough assessment of the inner Thames estuary proposal,” adding in a statement that the report marks a milestone in Davies’ work programme before final recommendations are presented next summer. The Airport Commission findings should mean that the Thames estuary option is now “sensibly ruled out for good,” according to a statement from the British Air Transport Association, which represents UK airlines including British Airways, EasyJet Plc and Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd.
Davies initially came out in favour of growth at Heathrow or Gatwick last December, while agreeing to review the estuary plan’s merits amid lobbying from Johnson. His commission isn’t due to make final recommendations until after the 2015 election.
Heathrow Airport Ltd Chief ExecutiveOfficer JohnHollandKaye said following publication of the report that he wants to work with Johnson on expanding his hub to benefit the whole country while curbing the impact of noise on residents. Conservatives on the Greater London Authority meanwhile rejected Davies’ comments on the mayor’s plan, commonly known as “Boris Island,” saying in a statement that the government “should pull the plug” on what was now a “failed” study.
Johnson said that any final recommendation based on the expansion of Heathrow would be “political Kryptonite” and that Davies — a former Financial Services Authority chief appointed by Cameron to help depoliticise UK aviation planning — appeared to have been deterred from backing the estuary plan “simply because of its sheer scale and vision.”
Taxpayer costs from a Thames airport would be in the range of 30 billion to 60 billion, the commission said, while travel times would be extended by 19 minutes on average, based on the existing distribution of passengers.