In the past few minutes, the Airports Commission has published its interim report. It’s the first big opportunity for there to be a political row over aviation capacity since the government kicked the issue into the long grass, and Sir Howard Davies’ shortlist in this interim report certainly provides some opportunities for a row. The shortlist as it stands does not include Boris Johnson’s favoured Estuary Airport, instead favouring new runways at Heathrow and Gatwick. The Commission will now consider a 3,000 metre runway south of the existing runway at Gatwick, and two different runways at Heathrow: a 3,500 metre runway to the northwest of the airport, and a 6,000 metre runway to the west which could be run as two separate runways.
Davies has, for the time being at least, dismissed Boris Island because it ‘would be extremely expensive’, ‘would present major environmental issues’ and require a ‘substantial’ level of new infrastructure.
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