[Bucksnet]

Creating new money and spending it directly into the economy for infrastructure projects is actually a good idea, economically speaking. However the money needs to be created debt free by a government and not at interest by a privately owned central bank. All that will happen is that the BoE will create new pounds and buy gilts to drive down the yield curve in the short term, and drive price rises in the long term.

I like the link to Northolt though. I said years ago that Northolt should become a domestic only feeder airport for Heathrow.

[Binman62]

This is a lauagable proposal and further evidence if it were required of this inept governmenst approach to major infrastructure issues. It is driven by their nonsensical appraoch to the 3rd runay and now that they have painted themselves into a corner with that decision they are seeking ways to hobble together some sort of improvement to the UK failing transport system.
LHR needs to be bulldozed, 3rd runay or not and a new national hub operating 24/7 is required with high speed rail links serving the entire country. It is a big ask and a big vision but without such thinking we will be forever at the mercy of myopic self serving politicians who’s only interest is their own.

[NTarrant]

Boris has now lost interest in his island in the Thames so that idea will sink where it belongs. We will never have a national hub operating 24/7 Binman. There are too many considerations and there would be too many people not wanting it in their back yard.

The third runway at LHR is the answer but will not happen for a number of years.

[scott70070]

This is an excellent idea. LHR needs to expand but never will. The train link between the two should have been done years ago.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

“LHR needs to be bulldozed, 3rd runay or not and a new national hub operating 24/7 is required with high speed rail links serving the entire country. “

Spot on, Binman.

[LeTigre]

I live quite near Northolt and the size of the airport is more than enough to provide a Gatwick sized new commercial airport. It is hard to contemplate this happening though, as more RAF units, not less, are being transferred to Northolt and plus Northolt is the Queen’s airport of choice.

[Bucksnet]

This is a ridiculous proposal and does nothing to increase capacity or reduce delays.

Heathrow and everything south of the M4 needs to be bulldozed, and a fit-for-purpose 4 runway hub airport needs to be built in its place.

[AMcWhirter]

BA’s WW has dismissed the plan:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/8815395/Willie-Walsh-attacks-Heathwick-plan.html

[FlyingChinaman]

I second Binman’s suggestion ask have been watching the development (or rather non-development) of London airports since I was in my young teens and it is still no real solution!

A bold and decisive new airport project is the ONLY way to correct the present situation and once and for all!!!!!

Cathay is lobbying to the HK government for building a third runway and the HK government knows this is the only way HK can maintain our dominance in the aviation and transport position in Asia in order to preserve our our economic prosperity in the region!

London is in the same situation in Europe and the UK government better act quickly.

[NTarrant]

Stamp your feet and shout, but nothing suggested here about getting ride of LHR and LGW for one hub will ever happen, well certainly probably not in the next 20 years.

There are just too many social, planning and cost issues. At best the third runway will happen, but not for a number of years and certainly not under a coalition government and any expansion of runway at LGW will take years after the date already set.

[VintageKrug]

“Heathrow and everything south of the M4 needs to be bulldozed, and a fit-for-purpose 4 runway hub airport needs to be built in its place.”

This is a ridiculous proposal and would do nothing to increase capacity and reduce delays.

Who on earth would site a new airport in an already heavily congested area, with no capacity for further expansion. Bonkers.

[Bucksnet]

VK, doubling the number of runways and the size of the airport counts as an increase in capacity don’t you think?

And surely the extra gates and runways would reduce delays?

Please engage brain, before engaging fingers on keyboard.

[VintageKrug]

Doing all this work would SIGNIFICANTLY decrease capacity during the 10-20 years it would take to build it.

LHR has no capacity to allow any such reduction, and there is no space for the hotels, parking lots, airline and other essential offices and other services which are currently located in the space you suggest.

And that’s before we get into the whole issue of bulldozing villages, people’s homes and historic sites.

The public transport links to areas outside London are seriously poor, and the motorway network would struggle to deliver a doubling in traffic to that part of the country without massive investment, and disruption were it to be built.

Extra gates and runways don’t help when the airspace is already saturated or restricted for night use due to overflying residential areas. LHR is closed for 25% of the time; you’d be utterly, staggeringly stupid to increase capacity in a location which can only be used 75% of the day.

Even if all the issues above were resolved (which they’d never be) you still end up with a capacity constrained airport with absolutely NO room for future expansion, closed 25% of the day, gridlock on the nearby motorways and with the need for most flights to overfly central London with all the noise and pollution that entails.

Still bonkers.

[FlyingChinaman]

Any PRACTICAL and SERIOUS suggestions from any posters?

[Bucksnet]

VK, if the space between LHR and the M4 was developed first then it would not impact current operations. There is space for all the things you suggest if you bother to look at a map.

Public transport needs to be improved for sure, but I’m not suggesting for one moment that flight numbers double, for if they did then LHR would be in the same position it is now. What needs to happen is that the trains need to be free of charge for people travelling to and from the airport, that would dramatically cut car use.

Most people don’t want to fly in the middle of the night, so that is not an issue. The airport should operate 24/7 as it does now, but with no flights scheduled between certain hours.

This would be the final development of LHR and any future expansion would have to come at other airports. LHR cannot handle all air travel demand for the south east and should not even try, but this would be a decent amount of growth. There is not any airport in the south east that has room for infinite expansion.

I cannot see how a third runway would solve Heathrow’s problems, but a fourth would make things worse!

[Author]

Posts