Tag Archives: south east airport expansion

Stephen Tall

A longer read for the weekend: Tim Leunig on how to increase airport capacity in the UK

By Stephen Tall | Sat 29th June 2013 - 3:45 pm

leunig bigger and quieterCongratulations to Tim Leunig — these days a senior adviser in the Department for Education, but until recently chief economist at the CentreForum think-tank — whose report Bigger and quieter: the right answer for aviation was the winner this week of the economic and financial category at Prospect Magazine’s Think Tank of the Year Awards 2013.

Tim’s report, published jointly by CentreForum and Policy Exchange, examined all the options for increasing airport capacity in the UK. It supports placing four runways immediately west of the current Heathrow site, doubling the existing capacity to 130 million passengers, and cementing it as Europe’s premier hub:

We argue that the first best solution is to build four new parallel runways, arranged in two sets of pairs, immediately to the west of the existing Heathrow airport. These would run above the M25, and Wraysbury reservoir. The Poyle industrial estate and a relatively limited amount of housing would need to be demolished. Clearly the problem with Heathrow at present is noise. Moving the runways west reduces noise over west London, since the planes will be higher over any given place. We will reinforce this noise reduction by banning the noisiest planes. This is not possible in the short run, but could be achieved by 2030, a plausible date for this airport to open.

In addition, narrow bodied planes will be required to land more steeply, as they do in London City. Again, this means that they are further up when they are above any particular place, reducing the amount of noise that reaches the ground. Finally there would be an absolute ban on night flights.

Interested in reading more? Here’s the link, and below’s the full document…

Bigger and quieter: the right answer for aviation — Tim Leunig for CentreForum / Policy Exchange (October…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 21 Comments
Nigel Milton

The Independent View: One hub or none – the choice for the UK

By Nigel Milton | Thu 15th November 2012 - 11:56 am

A recent Lib Dem voice poll asked ‘Do you support or oppose building a third runway at Heathrow airport?’ and it was not surprising to me, knowing the history of Liberal Democrat aviation policy, that 79% opposed this proposition. But this jumps the gun. Firstly, what is a hub airport and why is it valuable to the UK? Secondly, we need to understand if there is a problem to solve, and to define that problem. And then finally, what are the realistic options on the table that should be explored that will solve the problem.

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Posted in The Independent View | Also tagged | 13 Comments
Tim Leunig

Opinion: A four runway hub airport?

By Tim Leunig | Fri 5th October 2012 - 10:28 am

Flying isn’t something most people do for fun but connections are good for business and prosperity. Thankfully the Committee on Climate Change says that aviation can expand without risking our ambitious climate change targets.

Hub airports are particularly important. They draw in passengers from a range of places, making flights to many destinations viable. The one flight from Wuhan to Europe – to Paris – relies on transfers at Charles de Gaulle. That flight gives Paris a head start in attracting the European HQs of firms from Wuhan. I want …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 80 Comments
Catherine Bearder MEP

Catherine Bearder MEP writes…The simple Lib Dem approach to aviation

By Catherine Bearder MEP | Mon 10th September 2012 - 11:54 am

Why was I not surprised?

The knee-jerk, short-sighted reaction of Tory backbenchers to dwindling airport capacity was simple: Bung another runway onto the sprawling tarmac at Heathrow.

The airport already pumps out pollution and noise affecting hundreds of thousands of people and a moment’s respite lasts 90 seconds until the next jet swoops from the skies.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 58 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Would you be happy with a payout to put up with aircraft noise?

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 3rd August 2012 - 12:27 pm

The role of the Liberal Democrats in ensuring that this Government does not agree to the expansion of Heathrow airport is emphasised by an article in yesterday’s Independent.

It says that a group of right wing Tories with links to the Chancellor are drawing up plans to offer compensation to local residents who would be affected by increased noise from a third runway at Heathrow.

The Coalition agreement has ruled out giving approval to a third runway during this parliament and the Conservatives opposed the move at the last election. But some senior party figures, including the Chancellor, George Osborne, are pressing

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 11 Comments
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