Heathrow to have third runway built

The British government yesterday showed it was already looking beyond Brexit with its controversial announcement that a third runway will be built at London’s Heathrow international airport.

Calling the decision “truly momentous”, British transport secretary Chris Grayling said the choice of Heathrow for expansion was “about saying Britain is open for business post [Brexit] referendum”.

For a decade, the government had been considering possible ways – many unpopular with the public – of easing air traffic congestion into and out of London. A third runway at Heathrow had been one of the possibilities, along with a second runway at Gatwick, another London airport.

Both airports are interna- tional but although Gatwick is mostly a centre for short-haul European business travellers, Heathrow fields passenger and cargo traffic from around the world.

Gatwick had claimed its second runway would cost only £7.1 billion (Dh31.7bn), far less than the projected £17.6bn cost of Heathrow’s third runway. A second runway at Gatwick would also have involved the loss of fewer homes.

Despite Gatwick’s advantages, Heathrow’s global reach seems to have swung the decision in its favour.

Earlier this month, Howard Davies, who chaired an independent commission to evaluate the various airport expansion plans for the government, said: “My own view is that after Brexit the case for Heathrow is stronger because Heathrow is the airport which links the UK to markets outside Europe.”