Hopefully this thread will last the entire 30 years it will now take to actually get the bloody thing built…
So what is our position on this? As someone who first flew on Emirates back in 1993 when they had about 8 aircraft and our airport had less Gates than Southampton, I know that UK PLC has missed out on an awful lot of bucks from Transit Traffic
As usual though, Sky is already myopically interviewing Blue Rinsed Old Ladies who say you should all stay at home and stop flying/driving/eating Beef, but they of course took a taxi to the Studio…
Or about direct flights to China…
Obviously UK is crowded but you needed this runway 30 years ago. Now it’s 1.8 billion BEFORE the usual suspects get their palms filled.
Just remember that the 1,000’s of planes owned by airlines down here and all the people who fly with them are ALL due to two middle Managers at BA who had a good idea in the 1980’s and Little Englanders told them to bugger off.
Should they have opened a new airport at Farnboroough instead? Demolished the rail yard at Eastleigh? Built Boris Island with him at the bottomn of it?
Gonna be a lot of point scoring over the coming months enjoy!
I feel sorry for the poor bastards who live under the flight paths but we do need to expand. Heathrow and Gatwick have enough. Build it elsewhere, possibly where it wont affect many people, such as in the estuary.
Just build it Jesus wept, it’ll be interesting to see what it does to the house prices in the areas affected now, I am sure people will always move in and people can’t say they weren’t warned, I’m in a flight path nothing in comparison but I get all the flights into and from Liverpool Airport and you get used to it and I knew what was going on before I moved.
Heathrow has been there for 50 years. People have moved into houses under the flight path in that 50 years.
Aircraft Technology has improved GREATLY in that 50 years. Planes today are WAY quieter than even 20 years ago (Very few Russian Cargo Jets allowed into UK airspace these days and Concorde is long gone)
The people of Longford and surrounding area argument
Huge numbers of them rent their houses out for a premium to people who work at the airport and live somewhere ice like Slough in their second homes,
Still think they should have built a second runway at Gatwick and then developed one of the northern airports into a proper secondary hub with tax breaks and what not. Over centralizing everything in Heathrow is only going to benefit London and no one else.
By all accounts, he’s apparently one of the nicer Conservatives. Tried raising the Westminster nonce stuff ( and notably did not attract the shite Tom Watson got).
Tory strategy on the London mayoral race sunk him.
So, as someone who is currently on the edge of the flightpath from Heathrow it’ll be interesting to see what happens. I believe the new runway is further North, towards Iver, so luckily won’t affect us any further. Feel sorry for those who have owned for years in those areas, as I would do for those near Gatwick if it affected them.
Phil, unfortunately I disagree with pretty much everything you have said so far.
I live under the flight path, but apparently is too far out to be considered a blight. Wrong. Have lived in the area about 16 years and the number of flights have steadily increased. While some planes are undoubtedly quieter a lot aren’t - especially the ones rushing to get out before the airport (allegedly) closes last thing at night. We regularly hear planes at gone 1am and before 5:30. The noise is much worse for those under the flight paths closer to London
Part of the deal to get terminal 5 built was the promise to drop plans for another runway…so what next a 4th or 5th runway?
Air pollution is another significant issue. Whatever way you try to get around it pollution is affecting the young and old alike
and what with the proven stress caused by noise pollution, a ticking time bomb?
Anyway, what sort of fuckwit allows an airport to continue to operate where the flight approaches are over one of the highest densities of people in Europe / the world?
What about the fact that the M25 is effectively going to be banjoed for years - it’s a car. Park already…oh, and who’s going to pay for the infrastructure - yep the whole of the UK public. Perhaps it should be the sovereign wealth funds who are the major shareholders who should be dipping into their pockets - Isn’t Dubai one of them?
The govt have taken the easy option and jumped in to bed with big business on this - suspect to build “confidence” post Brexit.
This will rumble on for years & lots of money will be wasted, which could have been spent elsewhere.
I do most of my business flying out of Gatwick as Heathrow is a nightmare. So my preference for expansion. EDIT:I’m for the Expansion of Gatwick (or elsewhere) I live equidistant between Gatwick and Heathrow, so not quite the Nimby Phil makes out
Thanks for setting up the thread, I feel much better
My role is to set up the debate. So you are wrong and a Nimby.
Points that cannot be changed - There is no Viable Long Haul option for the South West of England - which is a hell of a lot of people.
Maybe Brizzle could expamd but it is too parochial and people moan.
Nimby’s hate airplanes and flight paths yet cheered us all flying to Milan.
Gatwick is a fucking nightmare for anyone needing to get there on time due to the M25. Build a second runway then turn the A25 into a proper road and build rail links to the West.
Nobody can come up with a BETTER solution. Boris Island helped Essex Man but then they don’t need it as they have Saffend innit.
Boscombe Down, Farnborough, Hell even Southampton COULD take long haul traffic but Nimbys or space stop them. Heathrow (and UK PLC) cannot accept enough intra-UK connections so people from Aberdeen fly on KLM to Asia not on UK Airlines and so avoid taxes and keep other Nations in jobs.
It is the greatest circular argument of all time. There is no answer. Just like Politics
Surely there is a far greater question here - should we really be building more airport capacity in the first place? As the debate appears to have been framed around two different expressions of what is essentially the same view, here’s a genuinely different side to the argument.
Well you lot (60 million) stay at home stop eating Chorizo & Peri Peri sauce dont buy the wife flowers in winter or better yet stop shopping at Primark so executives dont have to travel to buy your Tat whilst 6 billion other people don’t give a shit and leave their kids in the lurch.
We should set an example you cry.
Yeah like imposing democracy on Libya Iraq & trying to in Syria.
The French & Germans & Dutch all agree of course. Which is because they expanded decades ago.
I get upgrades 9 times out of 10 on my business flights without asking, and have had a fair few flying lessons and much more gliding experience, but that doesn’t make me airport expansion expert.
Can’t play golf either, but that still doesn’t make me an airport expansion expert either.
Suspect I’m missing the point of your argument - unless of course you are the CEO of Dubai airport or have a financial reason for expansion of Heathrow?
