British government backs £49 billion Heathrow expansion plan

LONDON, Nov 25 - The British government has backed a £49 billion plan to expand and modernise London's Heathrow airport, giving it the green light to a cheaper rival proposal from the Arora Group, the government said on Monday.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves promised in January to build a third runway at Heathrow, ending decades of uncertainty over the future of the airport. Heathrow is Europe's busiest airport by passenger numbers.

The sum includes around £15 billion for the planned modernisation and the cost of building the runway, rerouting London's ring road and adding a new terminal, which is estimated to be around £33 billion.

The plan was competing with an alternative plan put forward by the Arora Group, which owns land and hotels near the airport. Arora estimated the cost of its proposal at just under £25 billion. But that figure did not include some costs.

Heathrow Airport, located west of London, is currently operating at full capacity. It has only two runways, while Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Frankfurt Airport have four, and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has six.

Flights from the new runway at Heathrow are due to start in 2035. Planning permission must be obtained by 2029.

The airport is owned by a consortium called Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited. The consortium's largest shareholders are French company Ardian and investment funds from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

According to previous information, the airport expansion is expected to bring at least 30 new daily routes, more domestic connections and better flight times. The increased capacity should almost double the number of passengers to 150 million per year from the current 84 million.

The plan to build a third runway at Heathrow is one of the most controversial infrastructure projects in the country. Several governments have hesitated to expand the airport. Parliament approved the construction of a third runway in June 2018, but implementation has been delayed by legal disputes and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Czech press agency | WT.24