The Airports Commission, an independent commission chaired by Sir Howard Davies, has today released its interim report on UK runway capacity, concluding that there is a need for one additional runway to be in operation in the south east of the UK by 2030, with a further by 2050.
This will not come as anything of a surprise to those in the aviation industry and the report (again perhaps unsurprisingly) shortlists Heathrow and Gatwick as being the prime candidates for expansion. Whilst an entirely new airport in the Thames estuary is also considered, it has not been shortlisted as an option in this report, much to the chagrin of the Mayor of London, who has been quoted as saying that the expansion of Heathrow would be “crackers”. “Boris Island” has not been written off though, there will be further consideration of its viability over the coming months and the final report by the Commission will be released in 2015.