Heathrow CEO Urges Starmer to Back Third Runway
Thomas Woldbye hopes to gain government support next year
Thomas Woldbye
November 30, 2024
The CEO of Heathrow Airport has urged Keir Starmer and the government to back plans for a third runway. Thomas Woldbye warned that without backing from Downing Street, the airport would not be able to push ahead with plans to expand.
Speaking at the Airlines 2024 conference earlier this week Thomas Woldbye also claimed that talks had gained positive momentum, revealing he hopes to have won government support by the end of 2025.
He said, “I’m going to [the U.K. government] and saying all this, the demand is there. But this would be one of the biggest infrastructure projects in U.K. history, so we have to ask government, are you along for the journey? If not, we forget it.
“Otherwise we keep wasting money and time. I’m serious about getting a decision and about getting the right decision.”
Plans for a third runway had been on pause since the pandemic, however these comments suggest they are back on. Although, the revelation has not been received well by everyone. Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition said responded to these comments calling the third runway idea a ‘misnomer’.
He said, “The plans entail increasing Heathrow’s estate by a size that is larger than Birmingham Airport, with more terminals, hangars, shopping malls and the world’s two largest car parks, in order to increase flight numbers by more than Gatwick currently flies.
“Would Prime Minister Starmer, who opposed the plan in principle during the 2018 parliamentary vote, really change his mind when all analysis indicates that expansion at Heathrow will suck aviation activity away from other UK airports, undermining regional economic opportunity to the ‘benefit’ of the already over heated south east?”
View of Heathrow Airport Terminal. Picture: Mike McBey
A Heathrow spokesperson said, “Heathrow is the best-connected airport in the world. That competitive advantage for UK plc already enables over £200bn of British trade annually.
“But growing the economy means adding capacity at the UK’s hub airport which is full. That’s why we’re planning to unlock capacity by improving and upgrading our existing infrastructure, while also looking at potential options to deliver a third runway at Heathrow in line with strict tests on carbon, noise and air quality.”
Philip James Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter