Heathrow set to unveil options for £2.5bn savings on expansion plans

18th December 2017

  • Heathrow identifies options which could reduce overall cost of expansion by £2.5 billion
  • Reduced cost options developed with input from airlines and will be consulted on in January
  • Savings would be delivered without compromising on Heathrow’s commitments to local communities or passenger experience

Heathrow has identified options that could enable delivery of an expanded hub airport for Britain for £2.5bn less than the plans submitted to the Airports Commission in 2015. The revised £14bn option would be delivered without compromising on Heathrow’s local commitments or passenger experience.

The proposals – which will be released in detail as part of Heathrow’s public planning consultation in January – have been developed in close cooperation with the airlines and would ensure that Heathrow expanded with airport charges staying close to today’s levels.

The options that would enable the identified £2.5bn cost reductions involve three things:

  • Repositioning new buildings over existing public transport and baggage infrastructure. This includes building additional capacity at both Terminals 2 and 5 rather than a dedicated terminal or satellite building between today’s northern runway and the new northwest runway
  • Technological advancements which reduce the amount of terminal space required to process passengers without compromising experience
  • More efficient phasing of capacity construction – incrementally increasing terminal capacity in blocks to better match growing demand

Heathrow’s Executive Director Expansion Emma Gilthorpe said:

“The Secretary of State set us the challenge to deliver an expanded airport for Britain with passenger charges staying close to current levels. We have now identified potential savings of £2.5bn and are increasingly confident we can meet the affordability challenge. We are looking forward to presenting detailed options on how to do it in our consultation in January, and while we will continue to work to reduce the cost of expansion, we will not compromise on our local commitments.”