Heathrow presents proposal for privately financed third runway within 10 years

Dhaka: On August 1, Heathrow submitted its proposals for a 100 percent privately financed third runway, capable of flights taking off within a decade.

An expanded Heathrow would give passengers more choice—at least 30 new daily routes, extra domestic connections, and a better selection of flight times to the most popular destinations. Alongside more reliable journeys and cheaper fares through an expanded airline selection, terminals will be more spacious and accessible; flights will take off/depart quicklier, thanks to a redesign of the airfield, said the airport authorities in a release.

Once completed, Heathrow’s plans would grow the UK economy by 0.43 percent GDP, add 50 percent capacity to the country’s most valuable trading port—already enabling more than EUR 200 billion of annual trade.

The blueprint submitted to the government on August 1 included:

- A north-western runway up to 3,500m

- Increased capacity to serve up to 756,000 flights and 150m passengers

- A brand-new terminal ‘T5X’, expanding Terminal 2 and three new satellite terminals

The investment consists of three main elements: EUR 21 billion for the new runway and airfield infrastructure (up from EUR 14 billion in 2018 due to construction inflation), EUR 12 billion for new terminal and stand capacity—the brand new T5X—and EUR 15 billion for modernizing the current airport through expanding Terminal 2, and ultimately closing Terminal 3.

A third runway and supporting infrastructure can be ready within a decade, and the full investment across all terminals would take place over the coming decades.