Heathrow Hub, the independent proposal to double London Heathrow Airport’s capacity by extending and dividing the northern runway at the airport has produced a ‘no frills’ option to its plan which could be £2bn (US$2.6bn) cheaper, at a total cost of £7.5bn (US$9.8bn), than the original submission to the UK government and £5bn (US$6.5bn) cheaper than other proposals under consideration.
The new estimates by Heathrow Hub have been submitted to the UK Department for Transport and will be shared with Heathrow Airport Ltd. Jock Lowe, director of Heathrow Hub, commented, “Just like Heathrow Airport’s third runway proposal, we too can offer a ‘no frills’ option, whilst still boosting potential capacity to 750,000 air traffic movements post expansion. Based on many of the same assumptions and cost savings as Heathrow’s revised plan our modifications would deliver a more basic terminal.
“Another major advantage of our scheme over Heathrow Airport’s is that construction can be phased, meaning that costs can be spread and runway capacity released only as noise and air quality targets are met and as demand requires. The key fact remains that our proposal would be simpler, cheaper, quicker and easier than building a third runway at Heathrow Airport,” Lowe added.