Mayor promises Heathrow stake in new hub airport
Boris Johnson has offered the owner’s of Heathrow a role in developing and operating a brand new hub in the Thames Estuary.
He is also promising they can be part of a regeneration of the area of West London now occupied by the airport, which the London Mayor believes could be transformed to provide homes for 190,000 people.
A report by property consultants at Jones Lang LaSalle and PBA for the Mayor’s office claimed the re-development would support up to 90,000 jobs.
Daniel Moylan, Mr Johnson’s chief aviation adviser, said it would be "ideal" if Heathrow became a part of both the regeneration project and the development of a new hub.
He said: "Why shouldn’t Heathrow, as a private company be our partner in this? Wouldn’t that be the best solution, like other businesses that need to move premises? They get a new airport to manage at the end of it too – that would be an ideal solution."
Johnson’s proposal for a four-runway hub airport on the Isle of Grain in north Kent was not shortlisted by the Airports Commission last December, which favoured building additional runways at Heathrow and Gatwick instead, but commission chair Sir Howard Davies did promise to explore the option further.
Meanwhile, Heathrow Airport today released a report which it claimed demonstrated the benefits that an expanded Heathrow would bring to regions across the UK, not just the southeast of England.
It showcases businesses from across the UK ranging from the Liverpool School of English to an egg exporter based in the East of England which explained why Heathrow is important to them and what expansion would mean for their future growth.
Heathrow claimed the report showed that businesses right across the country needed international links that only the West London airport could provide.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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