Thames Estuary developments

London Mayor Boris Johnson held a briefing last week regarding his plans for a new London airport, hosted by the Institute of Directors (IoD) and its Director General, former British Airways public relations chief Simon Walker.  Mr Johnson had earlier this year unveiled a scheme nicknamed “Boris Island”. 

This part 2 unveiling discussed the economic benefits of a new hub airport.  The Mayor's project does not compete with the recently announced Norman Foster integrated hub which he praised and is sited much closer to the city.

The report is extremely comprehensive and has been put together by a team from Transport for London together with York Aviation, Volterra Consulting, ERM, SKM Colin Buchanan, Professor Peter Tyler and Andy Rumfitt.  It notes that 10 years ago Heathrow offered almost 200 destinations, which dropped to 167 by June 2011, with more expected.  While European rivals with multi-runway airports lure business away from the UK, London remains without any direct connection to 12 cities in China, expected to be among the 25-mega cities with the highest GDP by 2025. 

Heathrow now offers just 9,000 seats per week to mainland China and only serves two routes.  By contrast Frankfurt has almost twice as many seats and serves four destinations, whilst Amsterdam serves six Chinese destinations. www.london.gov.uk/publication/new-airport-london www.london.gov.uk/publication/new-airport-london-part-2

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