UK Government Okays New Runways At Heathrow

By ANN Correspondent Nathan Morley

The UK's national carrier, British Airways, says it's pleased as punch about a decision by the UK government to allow a new runway at Heathrow Airport. Heathrow handles around 64 million passengers a year, making it by far the busiest international airport in the world.

Latest figures show more than 90 airlines operate from Heathrow, serving around 160 destinations world-wide, operating an average of 1,250 flights per day. British Airways chief executive Rod Eddington said the new runway was excellent news for the air industry, businesses and tourism.

In recent weeks,  British Airways had warned that the aviation industry  could face the sort of decline the shipbuilding and coal mining industries suffered if no extra Heathrow runway was added by 2006.

Heathrow generates over $8.75 billion in wages alone each year for the British economy, supporting over 250,000 jobs across the country. Around 108,000 of these jobs are generated by the airport in the local area, of which 68,000 are physically on airport.

One of the reasons why Heathrow generates so much business is that landing charges are considered to be very cheap in comparison to other EU airports.

The reason for this is the odd way that landing charges are calculated. The more income an airport has from other sources, the lower the landing charges. Heathrow's are thus very low because of all the money it generates from its retail outlets.

And That's The Good News...

But Heathrow will have to wait before it gets its new runway. In its white paper on civil aviation, the government said Heathrow will have to get in line behind Stansted Airport, north of London.

Stansted is home to many of the lower-cost airlines serving the British capital.  The government said Stansted's new runway should be complete before 2012. Heathrow's won't be finished until 2020 at the latest.

Nathan Morley is an award-winning journalist covering Europe and the Middle East.

FMI: www.baa.co.uk/main/airports/heathrow, www.baa.co.uk/main/airports/stansted