Heathrow Airport CEO urges government to back plans for a third runway or 'forget it'

Philip James Lynch

29 November 2024 at 0:42 pm·2-min read

The CEO of Heathrow Airport has urged Keir Starmer and the government to back plans for a third runway. Thomas Woldbye warned that without backing from Downing Street, the airport would not be able to push ahead with plans to expand.

Speaking at the Airlines 2024 conference earlier this week Thomas Woldbye also claimed that talks had gained positive momentum, revealing he hopes to have won government support by the end of 2025.

He said: "I’m going to [the UK government] and saying all this, the demand is there. But this would be one of the biggest infrastructure projects in UK history, so we have to ask government, are you along for the journey? If not, we forget it.

"Otherwise we keep wasting money and time. I’m serious about getting a decision and about getting the right decision."

Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye made the comments at a conference earlier this week

Plans for a third runway had been on pause since the pandemic, however these comments suggest they are back on. Although, the revelation has not be received well by everyone. Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition said responded to these comments calling the third runway idea a 'misnomer'.

He said: "The plans entail increasing Heathrow’s estate by a size that is larger than Birmingham Airport, with more terminals, hangars, shopping malls and the world’s two largest car parks, in order to increase flight numbers by more than Gatwick currently flies.

“Would Prime Minister Starmer, who opposed the plan in principle during the 2018 parliamentary vote, really change his mind when all analysis indicates that expansion at Heathrow will suck aviation activity away from other UK airports, undermining regional economic opportunity to the “benefit” of the already over heated south east?"

A Heathrow spokesperson said: “Heathrow is the best-connected airport in the world. That competitive advantage for UK plc already enables over £200 billion of British trade annually.

"But growing the economy means adding capacity at the UK’s hub airport which is full. That’s why we’re planning to unlock capacity by improving and upgrading our existing infrastructure, while also looking at potential options to deliver a third runway at Heathrow in line with strict tests on carbon, noise and air quality.”

Have a story you want to share? Email philip.lynch@reachplc.com

Don't miss out on the biggest West London news. Sign up to our MyWestLondon newsletter HERE for all the latest daily news and more.

Associated Press
Trump threatens 100% tariff on the BRIC bloc of nations if they act to undermine US dollar
President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday threatened 100% tariffs against a bloc of nine nations if they act to undermine the U.S. dollar. While the U.S. dollar is by far the most-used currency in global business and has survived past challenges to its preeminence, members of the alliance and other developing nations say they are fed up with America’s dominance of the global financial system. Trump, in a Truth Social post, said: “We require a commitment from these Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy."
The Telegraph
How Putin’s long war is destroying the fabric of Russian society
When Timothy Ash travelled around the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, he met young veterans who had returned from the war in Afghanistan. They were psychologically broken – and drunk.
The Independent
Voices: Blairites are in despair over Keir Starmer’s flailing leadership
COMMENT: A person close to the former PM said the current government is like a bunch of unimaginative ‘librarians and academics’ but, writes John Rentoul, for some Starmer is not just a librarian or an academic but a funeral director
The Telegraph
Revealed: Britain’s worklessness capital where more than half of adults claim benefits
Britain’s worklessness capital has been revealed as central Grimsby after it emerged that more than half of its working-age population claims out-of-work benefits.
CNN
The illusion of Assad’s grip on Syria shatters, as Russia, Iran and Hezbollah let their guard down
Time and time again the Assad dynasty has survived internal and external challenges and lived to fight another day. But nothing lasts forever.
The Independent
Top pollster warns Keir Starmer will struggle to convince public with his ‘plan for change’
Sir John Curtice says Keir Starmer has shown ‘absolutely no ability’ to explain how he is going to lead the country out of its problems after five months of government, as the PM prepares for major policy reset this week
The Telegraph
Labour ‘hit job’ against Louise Haigh had been brewing for months
When Louise Haigh offered train drivers a whopping 15 per cent pay rise in August, she boldly said she was fulfilling a promise to “move fast and fix things” such as the long-running strikes.
Sky News
Zelenskyy suggests 'hot phase' of Ukraine war could end in return for NATO membership if offered - even if seized land isn't returned immediately
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested a ceasefire deal could be struck if Ukrainian territory he controls could be taken "under the NATO umbrella" - allowing him to negotiate the return of the rest later "in a diplomatic way". In an interview with Sky News's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay, the Ukrainian president was asked to respond to media reports saying one of US president-elect Donald Trump's plans to end the war might be for Kyiv to cede the land Moscow has taken to Russia in exchange for Ukraine joining NATO.
Sky News
More than 20,000 people have crossed Channel in small boats since Labour won election
More than 20,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats since Labour came to power. A total of 20,110 people in small boats have now arrived in the UK since the election on 4 July after two boats carrying 122 people reached British waters overnight, according to leaked analysis obtained by Sky News and The Guardian. Sky News reported on Saturday morning the two boats had arrived - the first since 16 November, while the French authorities said 151 people were rescued in the Channel and taken back to France overnight into Sunday morning.
Manchester Evening News
‘Welcome Christmas gift’ as 3,300 pensioners stripped of winter fuel payment handed £200 each by council
The eligible pensioners are those just above the threshold for the axed winter fuel allowance
The Daily Beast
Trump’s FBI Pick Scored Gig After Frontrunner Flunked Job Interview
Kash Patel may have finally been nominated for the position he craved the most—Federal Bureau of Investigation director. But it’s not like Donald Trump wanted him first. President-elect Trump said Saturday he would nominate Patel to head the FBI, heralding him as a “brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter” and signaling he would push current FBI Director Christopher Wray out of his 10-year term. But Patel wasn’t Trump’s first choice for the role, according to Axios—he just di
Wales Online
Labour is no longer Wales' most popular party in shock political poll
The YouGov poll of 1,121 Welsh voters has surprising findings for several Welsh political parties
The Independent
Ellen DeGeneres’s England home floods weeks after her move to the UK following Donald Trump’s victory
The flood was caused following the aftermath of Storm Bert
The Telegraph
Sinn Fein locked out of power as ruling parties set to win election
Micheál Martin and Simon Harris are in a tight race to become Ireland’s next taoiseach, leaving Sinn Fein locked out of power, according to the latest general election results.
The Telegraph
Marine Le Pen threatens to bring down French government over pension tax
Marine Le Pen, National Rally (RN) leader, has threatened to bring down the French government on Monday if Michel Barnier, France’s prime minister, does not drop effective cuts to pensions.
Reuters
US will not return nuclear weapons to Ukraine
Sullivan made his remarks when questioned about a New York Times article last month that said some unidentified Western officials had suggested U.S. President Joe Biden could give Ukraine the arms before he leaves office. "That is not under consideration, no. What we are doing is surging various conventional capacities to Ukraine so that they can effectively defend themselves and take the fight to the Russians, not (giving them) nuclear capability," he told ABC.
CNN
‘No other reason to explain this’: Juliette Kayyem on Trump’s pick for FBI director
CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem joins CNN’s Jessica Dean to discuss President-elect Donald Trump announcing he intends to nominate Kash Patel to serve as the next director of the FBI.
Associated Press
Left behind in Kenya, children of British soldiers struggle to find their identity
Margaret Wandia became pregnant after a week-long relationship with a British soldier training near her community in Kenya. Now that son is 26, and he is part of an effort by a Kenyan lawyer to take a number of such children to Britain. It is a long shot after years of attempts by human rights groups to hold the British military and its personnel accountable for their actions during weeks of training in Kenya — including alleged rapes — and the children they leave behind.
EADT
Woman believes she saw drone shot down over Suffolk air base
A woman who lives near a Suffolk air base which has been at the centre of mysterious drone activity claims she saw one of them shot out of the sky.
The Telegraph
Transgender rapist Isla Bryson mother says, ‘No wigs, dresses or amount of make-up makes you female’
The mother of trangender rapist Isla Bryson has said wearing wigs, dresses and make-up do not make a person a woman, insisting only biology can.

Latest stories