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British Panel Narrows Options for Expanding Airport Capacity British Panel Narrows Options for Expanding Airport Capacity
(about 14 hours later)
LONDON — In the highly charged debate over London’s future airport capacity, a government-appointed panel said on Tuesday that it had narrowed the shortlist of options to three proposals, including two for a new runway at Heathrow, but had not completely excluded the most ambitious idea: a new airport on an island in the River Thames estuary. LONDON — A government-appointed panel kicked the can down the road on Tuesday, declining to eliminate competing choices over how to create new runway capacity for southeastern England.
The discussion has provoked conflicting concerns about the environment, noise and competitiveness in an era when other European centers such as Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam have increased their tally of runways in the contest to provide hub services. The coalition government of Prime Minister David Cameron, a Conservative, and the Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, has made it clear that it would not make a choice on the contentious issue until after the next general election in spring 2015. They do not want to face the voters’
In Britain, however, the debate has raised such passions — including within the governing Conservative Party — that the Airports Commission, led by the former financial regulator Sir Howard Davies, will not make a definitive recommendation until after the next election in 2015. unhappiness if they choose to expand Heathrow Airport, with only two runways and running at 98 percent capacity, with a third runway, so are leaving the real choice to the next government.
In an interim report on Tuesday, Sir Howard said the panel would focus on three main proposals, one of them for a second runway at Gatwick, south of London, and the other two for a third runway at Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest hubs. The ideas for Heathrow would involve either building a 3,500-meter, or about 3,800-yard, runway to the northwest of the airport or extending an existing runway to 6,000 meters, enabling it to function as two runways. The Airports Commission’s preliminary report ruled out only the least likely options, which would be to expand Stansted, Luton or Birmingham airports.
While the idea of a new airport in the Thames estuary — supported vociferously by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson — was not included in the shortlist, Sir Howard said the idea would be studied to determine whether it offered a “credible proposal for consideration alongside the other shortlisted options.” It said that Britain would need one new runway in the southeast by 2030 to keep up with aviation capacity demands, with a second likely to be needed by 2050. The most viable options, the panel said, include a new runway at Heathrow, the extension of an existing runway at Heathrow to allow takeoffs and landings, and a new runway at Gatwick.
Mr. Johnson has suggested closing Heathrow to make way for a multirunway airport on recovered land in the Thames estuary. Speaking on the BBC on Tuesday, he said rival proposals for a third runway at Heathrow would be a “huge planning error.” But the panel did not exclude the most ambitious and expensive idea, promoted by the London mayor, Boris Johnson, Mr. Cameron’s rival, to build an entirely new airport east of London in the estuary of the River Thames, and transform Heathrow into new housing for a crowded London.
Apart from Heathrow and Gatwick, London is served by Stansted, Luton and City airports. Sir Howard said in his report that the British capital currently enjoyed “excellent connectivity.” The commission will study that option in the first half of 2014, the report said, and “will reach a view later next year on whether that option offers a credible proposal for consideration alongside the other shortlisted options.”
“The capacity challenge is not yet critical but it will become so if no action is taken soon and our analysis clearly supports the provision of one net additional runway by 2030,” the report added. The discussion has provoked conflicting concerns about the environment, noise and competitiveness in an era when other European centers like Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam have increased their number of runways in the contest to provide hub services.
Those living near Heathrow oppose a new runway and also oppose shutting down the airport where many of them work. The ideas for Heathrow would involve either building a 3,800-yard runway to the northwest of the airport or extending an existing runway to 6,500 yards, enabling it to function as two runways.
Speaking on the BBC on Tuesday, Mr. Johnson said that rival proposals for a third runway at Heathrow would “entrench a huge planning error,” adding, “We’re not dead yet.”
Apart from Heathrow and Gatwick, London is served by Stansted, Luton and City airports. Sir Howard Davies, the head of the commission, said in his report that the British capital currently enjoyed “excellent connectivity.”
Capacity “is not yet critical but it will become so if no action is taken soon, and our analysis clearly supports the provision of one net additional runway by 2030,” the report said, while urging more “efficiency” in current airport use.
The current government abandoned the 2010 plans of the previous Labour government for a third runway at Heathrow, while the current Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband, who had opposed a third Heathrow runway, now has said he recognizes the need for more capacity but is neutral for now about where.
Heathrow this year will handle about 71.6 million passengers, 31.8 percent of the passengers at all British airports. But any delay because of weather or accident creates enormous backlogs. Gatwick is about half as busy. The latest proposal for an estuary airport foresees six runways to be built in seven years, able to handle 172 million passengers annually.
Colin Matthews, the chief executive of Heathrow, said, “It’s good news for the U.K. economy that the commission is recognizing the need for connections.”
But John Stewart, chairman of the Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise, which opposes expansion at the airport, said the proposals would act as “the trigger to 18 months of intense campaigning against Heathrow expansion.”
Mr. Johnson said a second runway at Gatwick would be the “least injurious” in terms of environmental damage but would not make “a bean of difference” to the capital’s fortunes. Gatwick has said it would not be able to expand if Heathrow got another runway, however.
In a reflection of the longstanding fight over runways, Georgia Wrighton of the Campaign to Protect Rural England said, “A second runway at Gatwick, together with sprawling development and urbanization anticipated on a massive scale, would concrete over cherished open countryside.”

Alan Cowell contributed reporting.