It’s time for Boris to abandon his island and back Gatwick expansion

Surprise surprise, airport expansion is going to cost more than anyone expected. Howard Davies, of the Airport Commission fame, took to the Today programme this morning to kick off the public consultation while informing delighted flyers (who will likely end up footing part of the bill) that a second runway at Gatwick will cost £2 billion more than previously suggested. A third runway or runway extension at Heathrow will be in the region of an additional £3-4 billion. Sir Howard again declined to signal his preference for either option, instead carefully arguing there is an ‘interesting choice’ to be made over the ‘airport model’ the UK wishes to pursue:

‘If you look at the last 10 years or so, you can see it’s low cost traffic that has grown much more quickly than the full service, all singing all dancing model [such as British Airways and KLM]. That’s a big element of the debate – how the world is going to look in 10 year’s time – that’s the tricky bit.’