Thames Estuary Airport – Another Reason Why Not



Heathrow Control Tower

CEO of NATS Gives the Thumbs Down to the Isle of Grain Proposal

As Stowawae wrote last November when architects Norman Foster proposed their Thames Estuary project, the area has a number of reasons why any airport there would face problems; not the least of these being the UK’s largest LNG terminal which exists alongside the proposed runways.  Not only that but the lurking danger of the wartime wreck of the “Richard M. Montgomery” poses an explosive and huge danger to nearby towns let alone the airport. 
See: http://stowawaetravelnews.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/norman-foster-thames-estuary-airport.html
The Army have a saying “Time in Reconnaissance is seldom Wasted” – it’s as true for civilian projects as well as for military missions .  Richard Deakin, chief executive of Nats, had an interview with the Guardian published this past week-end in which he pointed out that from a national air traffic control perspective the Thames Estuary is one of the worst places to build a new international airport. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/apr/13/thames-hub-airport-worst-spot?INTCMP=SRCH
The architects did not consult Nats when conceiving the Isle of Grain project – whilst I am sure they would have taken into consideration the capability of the ground to support  the airport, they obviously did not take in account the air traffic control at high level nor the bird-strike danger at low level!  As the RSPB pointed out the Thames Estuary is a major bird  migratory route.    He also pointed out that the proximity of Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport would mean aircraft would be forced into much longer flight holding patterns which would mean more CO2 emissions.  Time spent in holding patterns produces huge tonnages of unnecessary CO2 .  The new airport would therefore cut across current efforts to reduce CO2 by improving European flight paths by making them more direct and also preventing use of the more efficient "continuous descent" method.

Deakin claimed that an extra Heathrow runway could cut the need for aircraft to hold in the skies before landing.  He said that…..” from an air traffic control point of view, the single biggest thing we could do to reduce CO2 in the UK is to build a third runway at Heathrow.  Heathrow holding is not about airspace – it's about lack of tarmac. I'm very confident you'd eliminate all the holding patterns in one go." 

I am reminded of a true story by a friend, the Head of the Port of London Authority.  A few years back a proposal was put forward to build a new wind farm in the Thames Estuary.  Wind farms are controversial enough on land, often creating huge public opposition.   Hence the proposers obviously thought they had cracked that particular nut by putting the wind farm in the estuary – the only thing they had not considered was that the Thames is a major highway into the UK.  They had place the proposed wind farm smack on the main channel for container ships and tankers.  Time in reconnaissance ……………!