Building a third runway at London's Heathrow Airport would cost between £50 billion and £60 billion ($68-81 billion), significantly more than the cost of new runways at other major airports around the world, the Financial Times (FT) newspaper reported, citing sources.
Heathrow's chief executive, Thomas Waldby, declined to give a price for the construction work in an interview with the publication, acknowledging that it would definitely not be cheap, given the airport's location, which is essentially within the city limits. “Building a new runway in central London will not be cheap“. “Exactly“, said Waldby.
He explained that one of the plans for the runway would involve the demolition of 750 homes, a primary school and a power station. “It is an additional cost when you compare it to many other runways elsewhere“, added the airport boss.
The Daily Telegraph also put the cost at £60 billion, noting that carriers such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have already criticised the plans as too expensive. The article said that the airport could significantly increase passenger charges to cover the costs, which could eventually reach £100 per long-haul ticket. Citing Waldby, the newspaper reported that the airport has not ruled out the possibility of building a shorter runway that does not cross the M25 ring road.
The UK government, which approved the construction of a third runway in January this year after years of controversy, has set a deadline of July 31 for the airport to submit proposals for the organization of the work. That day may reveal how much Heathrow management is counting on for the project.
Heathrow is the largest airport in the UK and the busiest in all of Europe, serving more than 80 million passengers annually and is a hub for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Currently, the annual number of flights that Heathrow can handle is limited to 480,000. According to the BBC, if a third runway is built, the number of flights could increase to 720,000 a year, which would be around 2,000 flights a day. It is estimated that the planning process for the construction could take around 2 years, excluding possible legal disputes from environmental activists. The construction work itself could take around seven years.
The airport, with four passenger terminals, is owned by Heathrow Airport Holdings, which in turn is owned by the FGP Topco consortium. The main shareholders of FGP Topco are the French company Ardian (22.6%), the Qatari Sovereign Wealth Fund (20%), the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund (15%), the Singaporean GIC Fund (11.2%), the Australian Pension Fund (11.2%) and the China Investment Corporation (10%).
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