TfL: “Get real on alternative to Heathrow”
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Boris Johnson and Transport for London (TfL) have urged the aviation industry to ‘get real’ about a new airport for London as a third runway at Heathrow was ruled out.
Speaking at ABTA’s Travel Matters conference today, Councillor Daniel Moylan, deputy chairman at TfL said that although Heathrow has the ‘characteristics’ of a hub airport it would need a minimum of four runways to become a hub, which there is no space for.
“Heathrow does not have a future role as a hub but we need a new airport and it needs to be somewhere else – such as east London,” he explained. “Boris Johnson sees the regeneration of Stratford as the same as aviation in the area; we can have a debate on where it will be but we are spending too much time not addressing the situation”.
Moylan added a new airport could take between three to 30 years to build depending on ‘political will’.
While the comments surrounding Heathrow caused concern amongst the panel, Justine Greening, Secretary of State for Transport had previously ruled out a third runway at the airport and the mixed mode use of current runways. Luke Pollard, head of public affairs at ABTA said the industry would need the facts before taking a decision, with Greening’s aviation report due to be released from the year-end to March 2013.
