Heathrow need fear no turbulence from Boris as PM

HEATHROW Airport is bracing itself for industrial action this summer, but the threat of political turbulence, from the direction of Downing Street at least, looks slim.

On the day Boris Johnson is finally confirmed as our next Prime Minister, chief executive John Holland-Kaye and his colleagues on the board of Europe’s biggest airport might be forgiven trepidation. After all Boris — the local MP — was a fan of a new airport in the Thames Estuary, pledged to lie down in front of the bulldozers to oppose a third Heathrow runway and arranged a trip to Afghanistan to avoid voting for it.

But such trenchant opposition wasn’t on display in the last six weeks of the Conservative leadership campaign, as he merely expressed his “concerns” about noise and air quality and pledged to follow the lengthy judicial review process.

Opponents are challenging the results of a judicial review into the Government’s decision, with an appeal beginning in October. There will almost certainly be another review when Heathrow submits its planning application next year.

Boris has far bigger battles to fight between now and then, though: the chances of him wasting scarce political capital opposing a plan supported by a thumping majority of 296 MPs last year are thin indeed.

Heathrow’s plans are entirely privately financed, with £14 billion of debt and equity to be raised by its international consortium of owners. Hence there’s little populist saving to be made on the public purse.

And if investors were really worried about Boris scuppering the runway would the airport have managed to raise £1.4 billion for its war chest in the first six months of the year? An elegant U-turn is in the offing.