Britain backs Heathrow airport expansion
Transport Minister Geoff Hoon told parliament on Thursday that Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport, was running at 99 percent capacity.
"This makes the UK a less attractive place for mobile international business … the airport is critical to this country's long-term economic prosperity," Hoon said on Thursday.
The new runway will take about 10 years to build, expand traffic to 600,000 flights a year from 480,000 and create new flightpaths across London.
Heathrow, owned by Spain's Ferrovial handles 65 million passengers a year. Ferrovial shares ticked higher on the announcement — a rare piece of good news for the operator following an order to sell three of its British airports given earlier this year by country's competition regulator.
Hoon's long-awaited statement came less than a year after Heathrow opened its fifth terminal after much delay due to opposition from campaigners.
"This decision opens the door to Heathrow becoming a truly world class hub airport," said Colin Matthews, Chief Executive of Ferrovial UK arm BAA.
"Meeting the environmental targets will be demanding, but … we are determined to work with the rest of the aviation industry to achieve them," Matthews said. The next phase will be to submit a planning application which will take at least a year to put together, BAA said.
Environmental campaigner Greenpeace, concerned about increased carbon emissions, has bought land on the site of the planned runway and hopes to frustrate the process by dividing it into tiny plots under separate owners.
