Commercial Awareness Compass
Clear for takeoff? Heathrow’s contested third runway
Amira El-Assaad
Published Thu, 15 Jan
Heathrow wants a third runway and says it has a shovel ready plan to expand the airfield for around £21 billion, with extra capacity arriving in roughly a decade if it gets the green light. The airport argues that more slots mean more routes, more passengers and upgraded facilities. Airlines are less convinced. They worry that higher airport charges will pay for the project and leave them flying from an expensive hub that passengers avoid.
Behind that tension sit strict UK regulators, complex planning rules, nervous lenders and rising climate pressure. Who really controls what Heathrow can charge? How do airlines push back without losing access to prime slots? And what happens when a major infrastructure project collides with decarbonisation targets?
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