Hotelier ‘saves’ Heathrow £6bn

A WEALTHY hotel owner has announced an audacious bid to build Heathrow’s third runway – claiming his plan would be £6.2bn cheaper than the airport’s current scheme.

Hotel tycoon Surinder Arora, who’s worth £258m and owns five hotels at Heathrow and some Hilton and Holiday Inn franchises, has slammed Heathrow’s £17.5bn runway proposal, saying the current bill would make the airport ‘internationally uncompetitive.’

The 58-year-old said there were cheaper and better ways to expand the hub that would involve less disruption to local communities.

His first proposal involves maintaining the 3.5km runway and bridge across the M25, but leaving car parking spaces where they are, scrapping a Terminal 2 extension and relocating the new Terminal 6 satellite. He claims this plan would save £5.2bn. The second option is to shorten the runway to 3.2km and move it eastwards to bridge over the M4 instead, saving £6.7bn – though a similar proposal was ruled out by Heathrow due to the noise impact.