Heathrow boss: nothing can halt building of third runway
HEATHROW boss John Holland-kaye believes neither Boris Johnson nor the Court of Appeal will be able to block the building of the third runway.
The chief executive of the west London airport threw down the gauntlet to the new Prime Minister, who has previously opposed Heathrow’s plans.
“It is now government policy and we are all getting on with it,” he said. “This is now a done deal.”
After decades of political wrangling, Parliament backed the Heathrow extension last year. It is consulting on a master plan that will see a new runway built over the M25 motorway.
During the Tory Party leadership campaign, Mr Johnson softened his previous staunch opposition without formally give it his blessing.
In 2015 he had pledged to “lie down with you in front of those bulldozers and stop the building, stop the construction of that third runway”.
Mr Holland-kaye said Mr Johnson had “been repeatedly asked about it [the third runway] but has avoided answering the question”.
On Monday, opponents to Heathrow’s plans were given the right to appeal against a High Court judgment in May that refused to quash the Government’s decision on airport expansion. “We just crack on,” said Mr Holland-kaye. “The initial judicial review was very clear cut.”
His comments came as Heathrow posted a 4pc rise in half-year revenue to £1.4bn. Pre-tax profit was £7m after the airport suffered a £139m hit from revaluing some loans. Almost 39m people flew from Heathrow in the six months to June, a rise of 1.8pc. Meanwhile, Heathrow is facing industrial action that the Unite union believes could “shut down the airport” later this week in a row over pay.
Heathrow said it will work with airlines “to minimise disruption”, adding: “We are disappointed that Unite will be taking strike action.”
And British Airways yesterday lost its bid for a temporary High Court injunction to prevent pilots going on strike over pay. Separately, the GMB union announced plans to ballot cleaners working for outsourcer ISS over what it called “poverty wages”.