London mayor Boris Johnson is asking airlines, businesses and the city’s residents for their views on how to solve the airport capacity shortage.
Johnson has unveiled a set of criteria which will be used to whittle down the possible options for adding capacity in the south-east.
Proposals include the mayor’s own idea for an airport in the Thames estuary dubbed “Boris Island”. Johnson has also been vehemently against any expansion at Heathrow including a third runway at the airport.
The categories drawn up cover issues such as economics, airport infrastructure, airspace, surface access, environmental impact and deliverability.
“Anybody remotely serious about protecting the ability of the British economy to compete with our global rivals knows that this country desperately requires a multi-runway hub airport of the kind being built in huge numbers around the rest of the world,” said Johnson.
“My team has drafted a set of criteria that we believe can provide a firm basis for establishing which of the proposals would provide the best possible solution.”
The consultation on these criteria will run until February 8 and once they have been formulated they will be used to create a shortlist of possible solutions. Those proposals on this shortlist will then be subjected to feasibility studies by engineers.
Once these studies have been completed they will be submitted to the Davies Commission, which has been set up by the government to look into how to improve hub airport capacity.
The London Assembly’s transport committee is also holding its own investigation into airport capacity which will include two public meetings on January 15 and February 6 with the aim of producing its findings by May 2013.
london.gov.uk