Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye, added: “The Airports Commission, announced by the Prime Minister three years ago, made a unanimous and unambiguous recommendation in June for Heathrow expansion”.
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Heathrow said today that it has full confidence in its new expansion plan and pledged to work with Government to deliver Britain the hub capacity it needs within tough environmental limits.
David Cameron delayed the decision he has been putting off for over three years: whether to enable another runway at Heathrow Airport, and in so doing break a promise he made in 2010.
Speaking after the government’s announcement, he said: “We can’t afford more dithering over aviation capacity”.
McLoughlin said: “The case for aviation expansion is clear – but it’s vitally important we get the decision right so that it will benefit generations to come”. “At this stage, IoD members care much more about a decision being made than whether the new runway is built at Heathrow or Gatwick”.
To say that rising tensions between Zac Goldsmith and David Cameron could result in a “bust-up” is to exaggerate – I can hardly imagine the London mayoral candidate channeling Eric Joyce and head-butting the Prime Minister – but it’s certainly giving both parties a headache.
Deirdre Wells, CEO, said: “At UKinbound we are extremely concerned at the government’s decision to further delay their response to the Davies Commission”.
Those included a ban on night flights, a legal commitment on air quality and a requirement for what is Europe’s busiest airport to demonstrate that an expanded Heathrow would be less noisy than a two-runway Heathrow.
“If a runway is built at Heathrow, there must be a fundamental review of the costs”.
“We have always maintained that this decision is about balancing the economy and the environment”, said Wingate.
“It is deeply disappointing that the decision on whether to go ahead with a third runway at Heathrow has been delayed yet again”.
His Labour rival Sadiq Khan said the government was delaying a decision to avoid embarrassing their mayoral candidate.
Businesses and unions, regions and local communities, politicians from all parties want certainty and to get on with Heathrow’s new plan.
Though Thursday’s decision was welcomed by local campaigners and environmental groups, Shadow Transport Secretary Lilian Greenwood added some perspective, noting: “Tonight’s statement owes more to political calculations than genuine concern for the environment or residents who now face another year of blight and uncertainty”.
And MPs on the Environmental Audit committee gave the Tory leader a free pass to avoid humiliation when they said more tests around pollution were needed. Gatwick delivers the identical number of passengers, a similar number of long haul routes, and the economic boost the United Kingdom needs – all at a dramatically lower environmental impact, at less than half the cost (£7.8bn) of Heathrow, and with no public subsidy.
Since the Airports Commission’s report was published in July Gatwick Airport has criticised the findings and continued to press for a second runway.
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“It is very disingenuous of the government to be debating another runway anywhere, not just at Heathrow but also at Gatwick, and then be discussing climate control”.
