One Of The Largest Landowners At Heathrow Offers Alternative For Runway And Terminal Expansions

The Arora Group, a private hotel and property company with experience operating inside of and around the airport, has commissioned a review of Heathrow Airport’s plans for expansion and says it believes there are cheaper and better solutions to expand Heathrow and address the need for more airport capacity in the southeast.

The Group’s views have been submitted to the Department of Transport in its recent consultation on the expansion plans, having commissioned a team of infrastructure and aviation experts including Bechtel to provide an initial assessment on potentially-improved delivery options for Heathrow Airport. Arora now wants the Government to look carefully at its proposals and to challenge the current monopoly status at Heathrow, at the same time that airlines are calling Heathrow’s own plan unaffordable.

Arora’s initial review proposes a number of potential wide-ranging improvements which could be realised in a more efficient master plan. Arora will continue to develop the plan but in the meantime is asking the Government to consider the following areas where it believes several billion-pound savings could be made:

• A £1.7 bn (approx. $2.8 billion U.S.) saving to the terminal design and taxi way system which would be preferred by airlines if it was reworked and also would maintain the same rise in runway and terminal capacity.
• Terminal 2 expansion is not seen as necessary for the overall expansion of Heathrow and removing this from HAL's plans would save an additional £1.1bn (approx. $1.41 billion U.S.).
• Not building the £1.0bn (approx. $1.28 billion U.S.) passenger transit system for airside passengers, branding it unnecessary while airlines believe it is not needed for their passengers.
• By adopting Arora’s key improvements plus other changes such as improving parking proposals and reducing the site area by 20%, which significantly reduces demolition and groundworks required, the cost of the scheme would be reduced in total by £5.2bn (approx. $6.68 billion U.S.) without significant amendments to the Government’s North West Runway plans.
• A further £1.5bn (approx. $1.93 billion U.S.) savings can be found in addition to the £5.2bn (approx. $6.68 billion U.S.) savings by avoiding the M25 construction project which is more than just a financial issue as it creates almost a decade of major inconvenience to commuters on the UK’s busiest motorway, totalling £6.7bn (approx. $8.61 billion U.S.) savings. This would mean the runway starting 500m east of the M25 which has been separately modelled by Bechtel.
• Total savings of £6.7bn (approx. $8.61 billion U.S.) is a 38% reduction on the current project forecast.

Significant resource and investment has been given by Arora and its partners, carefully considering safety, carbon emissions, community impact and noise implications of the proposal. Arora is confident that its proposed changes to Heathrow Airport Limited’s own proposals are positive. As an example, the 20% reduction in land use requirement makes a notable improvement.

Arora has commissioned initial modelling from experts on the impact of both the plans with and without an improved runway location. It is a matter for the Government to decide whether it is prepared to entertain moving the runway in order to avoid the rebuilding of the M25 and Arora will work with the Government on its plans no matter which option the Government prefers.

Arora claims its plans include the following benefits:
affordability compared to the current HAL plan which would result in an unacceptable and untenable level of airline and passenger charges
meeting the needs of customers, i.e. airlines, and having the support of key carriers already
introduction of competition and choice for customers at Heathrow unlike the current monopoly which stifles innovation and raises costs
less disruption to local communities by reducing land taken by 20% and ensuring carbon emissions are at the very least no worse than current levels
improving options for ground surface access without any further costs to the public purse, such as enhanced rail capacity, while maintaining the Government’s aim of achieving 55% using public transport by 2040
offering alternative housing to impacted residents as an alternative option to compulsory purchase should they so wish
certainty of delivery by providing additional options to Government to avoid impacting M25 and M4

“We want passengers to be at the heart of our plans and the current monopoly at Heathrow, which over-charges airlines and in turn raises fares for passengers, is not the right model for the future. Heathrow needs competition and innovation which puts passengers and airlines at the heart of the expansion project," said Surinder Arora, Chairman and Founder of the company. "We have brought together some of the world’s leading experts in infrastructure and aviation to develop the proposals that we have submitted to the Government. In addition, our own advisory board brings in unparalleled experience including former British Airways CEO Sir Rod Eddington.

"We are now calling on the Government to consider more carefully how competition can improve Heathrow's offer to passengers, and how airlines at the heart of these plans will benefit passengers. We look forward to working with the new Government to discuss these issues and how our proposals can help improve the airport's expansion.

"One of the options we have proposed to Government includes a possible shift of the runway so that it does not impact on the M25 and M4, as we know the M25 junction being affected threatens the deliverability of the whole project. We appreciate this is a politically sensitive issue but it is merely an option with additional savings of £1.5bn, whereas the rest of our proposals save up to £5.2bn without the need to amend the runway location.”

(Image provided with Arora Group news release)

FMI: heathrow.thearoragroup.com