Not building third runway would be 'huge missed opportunity', warns Heathrow boss
Thomas Woldbye tells the Today progamme it would be "good to know" the government's position on the project, after comments made by the prime minister.
Not proceeding with a third runway at Heathrow Airport would be a “huge missed opportunity” for the UK, the head of the country’s busiest airport has warned.
Thomas Woldbye told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that it would be “good to know” the government’s stance on the scheme, after Prime Minister Andy Burnham declined to say whether he supported expansion.
The airport’s chief executive said that if its owners were unable to put money into a third runway, the funds “will be invested somewhere else in the world”, adding that a decision could be made in the new year.
The Department for Transport said it was examining responses to a consultation and was “considering the appropriate next steps”.
A spokesperson said the government backed airport expansion “across the country where this can contribute to growth and opportunity, while meeting the tests on the environment”.
They said expanding Heathrow had the “potential to deliver around £40 billion in economic benefits across the country”.
The idea of building a third runway at Heathrow has been discussed for decades. The plan has been highly contentious, drawing strong opposition from local residents, politicians and climate campaigners.
Last year, then-chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the government-backed expansion, saying that “a third runway is badly needed”, and that the government could not “duck the decision any longer”.
Heathrow Airport is owned by a consortium of investors, the biggest of which is French private equity firm Ardian. Others include the Qatar Investment Authority, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the China Investment Corporation.
“If they cannot invest in Heathrow... then that money will be invested somewhere else in the world,” Woldbye said.
“It’s not about allocating this money elsewhere. It’s private money. It’s not public money. So hence, it will not go into the UK. I think that would be really a sad, huge missed opportunity for this country.”
A third runway would require hundreds of homes to be demolished, rivers to be diverted, and the M25 motorway to be rerouted between junctions 14 and 15 through a tunnel beneath the new runway. It is estimated to cost £33bn to build.
Heathrow handles more than 80 million passengers a year through its four passenger terminals and two runways. The number of flights, currently limited to 480,000 a year, could rise to 720,000 - or nearly 2,000 a day on average - if a third runway is built.
That extra traffic could bring a major increase in revenue for the airport’s owners, and Heathrow has said the expansion would deliver a “huge economic boost” and create jobs.
The new runway had been due to open by 2035, subject to plans being submitted and approved, but Heathrow has since said it could be delayed by four years to 2039 because of planning and regulatory issues.
It is still unclear whether the new-look government supports a third runway. Burnham, who opposed the scheme as Mayor of Greater Manchester, said he believed the issue was “for London and Londoners”.
“I think we ought to hear the voice of people there first. It’s not right for me to just jump straight in on the back of the consultation,” he said, speaking to the BBC last month.
Woldbye said he hoped the prime minister would “will come along” with the project, noting that it had union backing.
He added that a third runway was “not just for Londoners”. “Benefits will be felt all over the country because our supply chain reaches all the way from the north all the way to the south of the UK.”
Downing Street declined to comment on Woldbye’s remarks.
Asked about the noise impact on nearby communities from more planes taking off and landing, Woldbye said Heathrow had seen a “stark” fall in noise over the past 40 years and said the “trend will continue”.
“My biggest concern is actually the years of uncertainty. And I think it’s time that we give them certainty on what we want with this project so that we can move on and they can move on in their lives,” he said.
Woldbye told the Today programme he had not yet met the current Chancellor John Healey, but said that if he did, he would explain that the airport “contributes dramatically to the economy” but that “we are now full”.
“That means we will stop contributing or stop growing that contribution. If we want to avoid that, we need to now take this decision, move forward and continue the work of the previous government to move at speed and deliver this,” he said.
The Department for Transport said it was still finalising its Airports National Policy Statement, which sets the basis for deciding whether to approve a new runway at Heathrow. It was last updated in 2018.
Woldbye said Heathrow was working on a planning application it planned to submit in the next couple of years, but said any decision would be guided by the government’s national policy statement.