Heathrow Airport is about to take off with third runway

I’m currently building a house. It’s a big job, and there’s been the usual to-ing and fro-ing between myself, planners and contractors, so I sympathise with Heathrow Airport, which has been trying to get the builders in for years now.

I welcome the news that we finally have government backing for a third Heathrow runway. If and when it’s built, we will have the opportunity to catch up a little with mainland Europe. A bit like when we started drinking Cappuccinos or discovered that pasta doesn’t need to be cooked until it’s soft enough to eat without chewing.

Now, don’t get me wrong; I’m not a gung-ho ‘growth is good at all costs’ type of person. I accept that we need to fly a little less and throw our weight behind more sustainable fuels. Although it currently appears to be cheaper to power a plane using unicorn’s tears.

And let’s be honest, Heathrow is in the wrong place. If we built it today, it would surely be east of the capital so that we don’t have to fly over London. Although on a good day, the views on approach are spectacular, even of Brentford.

But there’s no denying that UK PLC has some catching up to do if we want to regain our reputation as a central hub for enterprise between the US and Europe. We’re slap bang in the middle of both, and now we’re not part of the European Union, we need to make it easier for people and goods to come here if we hope to attract investment.

It feels like a third Heathrow runway was first proposed when flying boats were still around. Faffing around with consultations and batting the topic from one government to the next has been a gift to our European counterparts. While we’ve dithered, they’ve expanded: Munich, Madrid, Amsterdam and Paris, amongst many others. Istanbul has even built a whole new airport with six runways in that time

I still remember the smile on the Munich Airport CEO’s face many years ago when quizzed about Heathrow’s public consultations. As he put it rather smugly: “Take all the time you like, meanwhile we’ve built a whole new terminal.”

It’s that kind of dithering that meant Heathrow lost its crown as the world’s busiest international airport to Dubai back in 2014. It won’t regain that title any time soon without a third runway.

Meanwhile, there’s more tinkering at the edges with Heathrow adding more space to T2 and T5. But it’s a bit like putting in a conservatory or loft conversion and desperately trying to create more space when really you should just admit that your family of six and your two dogs need to move house.

So let’s stop messing about and do it properly, and let’s do it soon.

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