Designers lay out plan for an estuary airport
DESIGNS for an airport in the Thames Estuary were unveiled yesterday, along with a claim that the scheme would be cheaper to build per runway than a new runway at Heathrow.
London Britannia Airport, also known as Boris Island, would house six runways on a site off the east coast of Kent. Previous plans had proposed four runways.
Passengers would check in at one of four onshore locations, before taking a train out to the hub.
The project would take seven years to build, once planning approval is in place, and has a price tag of £47bn.
The Thames Estuary Research and Development Company (Testrad), set up to explore options for this airport, said the hub works out at £7.8bn per runway, compared to £14bn-£18bn for a third runway at Heathrow.