Heathrow Airport expansion plans: Just build the third runway says business September 9, 2015 Business leaders are putting more pressure on the government today to move ahead with building a new runway at Heathrow. At an event in Westminster this morning, Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye, Icap group chief executive Michael Spencer and Arora International chief executive Surinder Arora, among others, will call on ministers to make a [...]
Government procrastination must end: Give the green light to Heathrow expansion now September 8, 2015 As ministers return to their desks this week from their summer holidays, the government will be faced with the pressing issue of whether to back the expansion of airport capacity in London and the South East. This follows the clear recommendation of the Airports Commission in July to build a new runway at Heathrow. [...]
2016 London mayoral election: Conservative candidate Syed Kamall wants a London referendum on future airport capacity September 4, 2015 Londoners should be able to decide themselves whether airport capacity is expanded at Heathrow or elsewhere, Conservative London mayoral candidate Syed Kamall has said. The future of aviation capacity in London is for the people of London to decide, and should not be left to “unelected bureaucrats and vested interests to decide between Heathrow, Gatwick [...]
Zac Goldsmith will stay a Tory in London mayoral race despite Heathrow airport expansion plans September 3, 2015 Zac Goldsmith yesterday confirmed that he will stay in the Conservative party and remain on the mayoral ballot if the government backs the expansion of Heathrow airport. Goldsmith, the MP for Richmond Park, is widely seen as the front-runner for the Conservative candidacy in a field that also includes London MEP Syed Kamall, deputy mayor [...]
Political meddling threatens London City Airport’s future: It’s a depressingly familiar story August 20, 2015 The latest twist in the London City Airport saga was laid out in these pages yesterday, with the news that a number of international parties are looking to bid for the site. But any sale, and the future of the airport, is heavily dependent on its prospects for growth. Those growth prospects ought to [...]
London City Airport expansion plans stay grounded following Mayor Boris Johnson’s U-turn August 20, 2015 The battle for London City Airport is heating up. Less than a month has passed since its owners Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Oaktree Capital put the site to the east of the capital up for sale with a price tag of around £2bn. But already two heavyweight bidders have emerged, including one of the [...]
Sir Howard Davies defends Airports Commission recommendation against Gatwick criticism August 19, 2015 Sir Howard Davies has hit back against criticism of his conclusion that Heathrow should build a third runway by Gatwick chief Stewart Wingate. In a statement today by Airports Commission chair Davies, who was the subject of a 50-page catalogue of criticisms published by Gatwick yesterday, Davies gave a withering response. "This dossier appears to [...]
Gatwick Airport boss Stewart Wingate blasts recommendation to build third Heathrow runway August 18, 2015 The chief executive of Gatwick Airport has hit out at a recent commission’s recommendation that Heathrow be expanded. A 50-page catalogue of criticisms, published yesterday, targets the Davies Commission’s use of analysis from consultants PwC, despite its own expert panel urging caution on it. It also said the commission’s proposals, which rejected calls to expand [...]
Airport expansion: Forget Heathrow and Gatwick – only Thames Estuary can give more than a sticking plaster solution to the UK’s airport expansion needs August 4, 2015 Last week big business was on the march with 57 senior business leaders signing a letter urging the Prime Minister to give a third runway to Heathrow. This follows on neatly from the Davies Commission – a £20m report that has taken three years to recommend political suicide. The challenge for a future [...]
Heathrow airport expansion is in the UK’s interests: Get on with it July 29, 2015 It has now been a month since the Airports Commission made a clear recommendation to give the green-light to a new runway at Heathrow, following three years of consulting and examining the evidence. I fully back that recommendation. But after years debating the issue, we now need the government to grasp the moment and address [...]