This outta be good…
If you’ve lived under a rock for the past twenty years, there’s a long and ongoing battle over a new and additional 3rd runway to be built at London Heathrow Airport. In this post, I’d love to share my thoughts on this matter without getting too much into the politics of things.
In This Post
How it started.
So, let’s start right at the very beginning. Back in 2003, we fought the idea of adding a new runway west of Heathrow Airport, which would obviously help a lot with the congestion and traffic and ultimately make Heathrow Airport the strongest and busiest airport in the world. Because they are only about 4th to the thrown now, I guess they want to have it all.
How it’s going.
Off the face of things, I was very pro that this should happen, and let me explain why. I love architecture and buildings as a whole but throw in some airports and airplanes, and I’m even more invested in the matter, so I was all for it. Why not “Make Heathrow Great Again?” Right?!
However, here’s the thing: If you look at Gatwick Airport, for instance, they currently have another runway that doesn’t get used the way God intended; instead, it’s being used as a taxiway. Solution: Open up that runway, make it even longer if you have to, and then you can always build a high-speed train to connect London Heathrow Airport to London Gatwick Airport if we really need to connect the people.
So, why did I change my mind about having a 3rd runway at London Heathrow? Well, the fact of the matter is that building a 3rd runway aint cheap; it comes at a heavy price; in fact, I believe the amount they are talking about is £14 billion, yes, with a B, so doing it the other way round instead like opening up the second runway at London Gatwick will only cost the UK taxpayer an approximate £2Billion so it makes a lot more sense doing that way,
The problem. Of course, nothing in this world comes without its challenges. Since the UK has now fully introduced the ETA, people connecting from London Heathrow Airport to London Gatwick Airport will have to enter the UK, which ultimately means that they will have to get the ETA. So, yeah, there’s definitely going to be some challenges, but nothing that can’t be done.
Conclusion.
But let’s face it, guys, this 3rd runway thing started in 2003. I mean, that was a long time ago; the US invaded Iraq that year; you see what I’m saying? It has been a long time. Therefore, a small part of me can’t help but think that if you really wanted to add that 3rd runway, you could have already done that by now,
What is your opinion? I’d love to hear that, so please make sure to drop me a comment below, and let’s talk!!!
4 comments
Heathrow is privately owned and is a nice cash cow for the ridiculously wealthy owners. my feeling is that if the ownERS WANT TO SPEND THEIR MONEY ON BUILDING A THIRD RUNWAY WITHOUT ASKING FOR YET ANOTHER INCREASE IN THEIR FEES THEN I’M GOOD WITH THAT. THE EVENTUAL INCREASE IN PASSENGERS SHOULD MAKE THIS EVEN MORE OF A GOLD MINE WHEN COMPLETE. THAT WOULD MAKE THIS A WIN/WIN/WIN SITUATION.
If you can upgrade Gatwick and build a highspeed line from there to Heathrow for £2bn go for it.
Being an aviation enthusiast, what i dont understand, is if Heathrow needs more flight and passengers, then why not double up short haul city flights and use larger aircraft, we dont need a flight to Paris or Amsterdam every other hour, convienent it may be, taking into account all the close European cities, im sure this could save more than 50 flights a day, same amount of passengers. There just seems to be a need to constantly use small aircraft, surely the public can work around when planes fly and it not always be the case of when the public need them Chris L
i 100% agree wit that too, Heathrow should adopt the same aircraft use type like they do in Asia, larger aircrafts om high density routes and give the slots to other airlines, however because British Airways has the main dominance at Heathrow they control everything so it doesn’t seem that this will happen any time soon!