IN MY VIEW

UPGRADING airports and runways is an expensive business.

To increase a runway like at Wick John O’Groats to be able to handle a plane like the Globemaster C-17 would require millions of pounds of investment. Every yard of tarmac on a runway is extremely expensive for the people who run them. There are also time issues. I’d estimate it would take a couple of years to extend it so it could cope.

But that’s not all. There is also other issues that get in the way of building airport infrastructure such as planning permission.

To make a runway this big would require suitable approval.

Did bosses at Wick have permission to extend it from their local council? Would local opinion allow a bigger runway?

Some airports run into trouble on these issues when they are built close to communities – although I doubt that would be the case with an airport in a relatively remote location like Wick John O’Groats.

There are a very select few airports that currently have runways that can handle a plane like this.

Commercial airports that fit the bill include places like Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire and Manchester Airport. Much further south you have Heathrow on the outskirts of London.

While these airports have the physical capabilities to handle a Globemaster C-17 they certainly don’t have the appetite for shipping out nuclear waste.

There would be nothing short of uproar if that was the case.