Heathrow Hub is an independent proposal to expand capacity at London's

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

, put forward by Jock Lowe, a former

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

pilot, and Mark Bostock, an ex-director at

Arup Group Arup (officially Arup Group Limited) is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London which provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment ...

. The proposal was shortlisted in Sir Howard Davies'

Airports Commission The Airports Commission was an independent commission established in September 2012 by the Government of the United Kingdom to consider how the UK can "maintain its status as an international hub for aviation and immediate actions to improve th ...

's interim report. Heathrow Hub proposes extending both of the existing runways up to a total length of about 7,000 metres and dividing them into four so that they each provide two, full length, runways, allowing simultaneous take-offs and landings. The aim is to complete the construction within five years and with 100% private funds. Available capacity would be doubled while keeping a percentage of the slots unused in order to alter noise levels. In addition, early morning flights could land much further west along the extended runways so reducing the noise footprint for a large area of west London.The Times - Increased capacity at Heathrow - 30 October 2013
/ref> Other noise mitigation techniques include using two-stage approaches, and steeper, curved climb-outs. The Heathrow Hub concept includes a new multimodal air, rail and road interchange located approximately two miles north of Heathrow's Terminal 5 to accommodate passenger growth. This includes a new terminal, a new railway station connecting Heathrow to the West Coast Mainline and Crossrail and direct access to the M25 motorway. According to a paper published by the think-tank the

Centre for Policy Studies The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is a think tank and pressure group in the United Kingdom. Its goal is to promote coherent and practical policies based on its founding principles of: free markets, "small state," low tax, national independe ...

, the Heathrow Hub proposal would cost ~£10 billion compared to the £65 billion estimated cost of the

Thames Estuary Airport A potential Thames Estuary Airport has been proposed at various times since the 1940s. London's existing principal airports, Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, are each sub-optimally located in various ways, such as being too close to built-up area ...

situated on the

Isle of Grain Isle of Grain (Old English ''Greon'', meaning gravel) is a village and the easternmost point of the Hoo Peninsula within the district of Medway in Kent, south-east England. No longer an island and now forming part of the peninsula, the area is ...

and promoted by London Mayor

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

. Heathrow Hub estimates the cost of implementing its expansion plan to reach ~£12.5 billion, including road diversions and a train station. The commission estimates the cost to be around £13.5 billion; higher than HH's own estimate. The technical work for the proposal has been done by

URS Corporation URS Corporation (formerly United Research Services) was an engineering, design, and construction firm and a U.S. federal government contractor. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, URS was a full-service, global organization with office ...

, an international engineering consultancy.

References

External links

* {{transport in London Heathrow Airport Proposed transport infrastructure in the East of England Proposed transport infrastructure in London