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Mayor of London wants to close Heathrow
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by Amy Judd | September 20, 2008 at 03:54 pm
544 views | 21 Recommendations | 6 comments
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Boris Johnson, the mayor of London is proposing a plan to close Heathrow and replace it with a 24 hour airport int he Thames Estuary.
The airport would have to be built on an artificial island off Sheppey in Kent, and would start with four runways, but would have room for two more if the need arose.
Passengers would be transported to and from central London on high-speed trains in about 35 minutes. Luggage could be checked in at the railway station.
The airport would be connected to the Channel tunnel rail link, opening up fast passenger and freight routes to northern Europe. Brussels, for example, would be about 90 minutes away by train.
Johnson’s aides believe the scheme, loosely modelled on Hong Kong international airport, could take just six years to build, eventually leading to a phased closure of Heathrow and possibly even Gatwick.
The Heathrow site, which employs 70,000 workers, could ultimately be turned into Britain’s equivalent of Silicon Valley, with technology parks and affordable homes.
“If we can build St Paul’s, the Gherkin, the Channel tunnel and all the rest of it, we can do this,” said Kit Malthouse, one of Johnson’s deputies, who is overseeing the airport project. “We just need a bit of courage.”
Johnson believes the new airport would solve congestion at Heathrow, which serves 67m passengers a year, and create new jobs east of the capital.
Naturally there might be some issues with this proposal, and while it will most likely be welcomed by the residents who live near Heathrow, British Airways will not want to close their main airport, which is their major world hub.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (6)
at 18:05 on September 20th, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Why would BA balk? From the sound of it, they can just move their hub to the new airport, no problem.
If Heathrow closes eventually, they'll lose the hub anyhow at least THERE.
at 02:33 on September 21st, 2008
I think there may be a typo in the article - it's BAA (British Airports Authority) who own the airport, not BA (British Airways). They're probably miffed at this plan after the Competition Commission forced BAA to sell Gatwick Airport after concerns of BAA having a monopoly
at 01:30 on September 21st, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff. Many people are completely opposed to this move as that area of Kent is a bird sanctuary and a conservation area, in particular, the RSPB, the Royal Society for Preservation of Birds.
at 02:26 on September 21st, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.
It's an interesting idea and one not without merit, but would the environmental impacts be too much? It's going to be a tough-sell for the Mayor's office. I wish them luck
And why do they think they could turn Heathrow into Silicon Valley? We've already got areas like that in the UK. Why would this be the 'natural' place for another?
at 03:16 on September 21st, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 23:53 on January 6th, 2009