To Be or Not to Be - More runways for the South East?

"La plus ca change, la plus c'et la meme"

 

To Be or Not to Be - More runways for the South East?

 



That is certainly the question foremost in the industry's minds at present.  There seems to be general agreement NIMBYs apart and even by most of the Government that more runway capacity is needed for the good of the economy.

The Government has of course done a neat political sidestep given its previous opposition to Heathrow's expansion and appointed an independent commission, without a single politician aboard, under Sir Howard Davies to look into options to achieve more runway capacity and to maintain London as a major hub.  That appointment has brought  forth comments from leading political commentator Iain Martin that Sir Howard is an odd choice in that he ran the FSA and then LSE from 1997-2003 and 2003 respecively and failed to regulate the banks well enough or to avoid the 'Gadaffigate' problem when the LSE infamously feted the Col's son.  However even if the commission does come out with a proposed solution there is no guarantee that it would be adopted and in any case it's going to take (I imagine) at least 12 to 18 months to publish - just before the next General Election is due in 2015.   A new Government then, and with it new political agendas and promises to take into account could mean that any independent recommendation could be rejected. 

Meanwhile the Government has an excuse NOT to push forward on this vital matter until it can decently (if need be) reverse its opposition to Heathrow's expansion in the event that the Commission finds in favour of more capacity at Heathrow.  Reportedly Zac Goldsmith  MP for Richand Park and leading anti Heathrow campaigner has said he will resign and offer his seat to Boris Johnson if Heathrow is eventualy given the go-ahead - a direct threat to the PM in essence as Boris is said to fancy himself at No 10.

Personally I do like the idea of Boris's Thames Estuary airport.  However the problems facing such a scheme are likely to be huge given the area's importance to bird migratory routes and resting grounds. Also a rusting timebomb in the Estuary that could explode with the force of a mini nuke under the flight paths and destroy a lot os Sheerness; add to that the UK's largest LNG terminal alongside Lord Foster's runways and finally above ground; a huge air traffic control problem requiring the co-operation of the Dutch because of Schiphol's existing ATC requirements over the Estuary.

And so the delays go on - However, I guess that we can take comfort in the fact that even the super efficient Germans are now faced with a further delay in the opening of the new Berlin airport which I now learn will not open until October 2013.