Heathrow Plan Raises Millions After Legal Win

A proposal led by a former Concorde pilot to extend one of Heathrow’s runways in a bid to increase flight capacity is secretly raising millions of pounds in new funding despite being snubbed by a Government-commissioned review of aviation capacity.

Sky News has learnt that Heathrow Hub, which was set up by Jock Lowe, a former British Airways captain, has received commitments worth up to £3m from a consortium of unnamed City investors in recent days.

The new financing pledges come as Heathrow Hub scored a decisive victory over an attempt to claim that it had infringed a patent lodged in the US in 2008.

A ruling dated October 30 and handed down by the Intellectual Property Office said the "proposal provides sufficient detail to enable the question of infringement to be decided…[and] that the proposed airport runway arrangement lacked two essential features of the claimed invention, and would not therefore infringe".

Daniel Gellert, who brought the claim, was ordered by the IPO to pay £900 towards Heathrow Hub’s costs, according to the ruling.

The news delivers a boost to Heathrow Hub, whose original investors included Ian Hannam, a former JP Morgan banker and prominent City figure, four months after it was sidelined by the Airports Commission, led by Sir Howard Davies.

Sir Howard said that Heathrow Hub plan, which would involve extending the airport’s northern runway, "delivers similar economic benefits [to the preferred option of a third runway], is less costly and requires the loss of fewer homes. But it provides a smaller increase in capacity and is less attractive from a noise and air quality perspective."

Sources said that the Department for Transport (DfT) had nevertheless asked Heathrow Hub to remain active pending the delivery of a final verdict by ministers, which is expected before the end of the year.

That request explained the decision to seek additional funding, they said.

Heathrow Hub’s backers have at various points made overtures to Heathrow Airport Holdings and the owner of London Gatwick Airport about buying the rights to its scheme, although talks have never got off the ground

The Government is under intense pressure to give the green light to airport expansion because of a growing capacity crunch in London and the south-east.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, has just announced the launch of a National Infrastructure Commission to accelerate the flow of important UK projects, but critics have argued that a delay to airport expansion will provide evidence of ministers’ hypocrisy on the issue.

Gatwick’s management continues to fight a vigorous campaign on subjects such as air quality as it seeks to overturn Sir Howard’s recommendation.

A Heathrow Hub spokesman declined to comment on the identity of its new financiers.