BAA to unveil plans for second runway and terminal at Stansted
Airports operator BAA is set to unveil new plans for a second runway and terminal at Stansted Airport.
It said the cost of the project be up to £2.2bn, lower than its original forecast when plans were first announced in 2005.
Although BAA said it has worked hard to reduce the impact on the environment, opposition group Stop Stansted Expansion said a second runway would be an “environmental catastrophe”.
In November, the local Uttlesford Council turned down plans for expansion of the existing runway at Stansted, with climate change one of the reasons for the refusal.
A public inquiry is expected to start in late May into this separate application, which would allow the airport to grow passengers from 25 million to 35 million by 2014-15.
These new plans for a second runway will be the subject of a separate planning application and would allow further expansion.
BAA expects to reach around 45 million passengers a year at the airport by 2018-19 and, with further phased expansion, grow to 68 million passengers a year by 2030.
Responding to BAA’s latest plans, easyJet chief executive Andy Harrison said: “Today’s plans are little better than any of the other plans BAA has put on the table in the last couple of years at Stansted. BAA’s policy of saying “It’s not quite as expensive as we told you last time” is a poor substitute for plans built around the genuine needs of BAA’s customers – the airlines and our passengers.
“The scheme remains over-engineered and too expensive. It may be good for BAA’s shareholders, but it is not the right way forward for UK aviation and the travelling public.”
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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