Heathrow Warns £49 Billion Third Runway Could Slip 4 Years as Planning Hurdles Mount
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 26
Heathrow Warns £49 Billion Third Runway Could Slip 4 Years as Planning Hurdles Mount
3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 26
Summary
Heathrow said its third runway may open as late as 2039, not 2035, because planning and regulatory obstacles are making the government's target increasingly hard to meet.
2029 is now the airport's target to secure planning permission, after which it expects to open the runway within a decade unless ministers further simplify the approval process.
The Department for Transport said there is still no live planning application and called the original timeline "always ambitious," while saying it would keep working with Heathrow and other stakeholders.
£49 billion expansion plans would lift annual flight capacity to 720,000 from 480,000, but require hundreds of homes to be demolished and the M25 rerouted through a tunnel.
The project, backed by government as a growth plan promising about 100,000 jobs, still faces opposition from environmental groups, local residents and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, with a parliamentary vote reportedly not due until 2027.