Heathrow boss says 2025 to bring final decision on controversial third runway

LONDON — Heathrow’s chief executive said Monday he would push the U.K. government for a final decision on construction of a third runway at the London airport by the end of 2025, adding that the latest discussions had seen “positive momentum.”

Thomas Woldbye told the Airlines 2024 conference that the airport needed additional capacity and that this would support the government’s economic growth and industrial strategy. However, he said it was ultimately up to the state to approve the plans, which have been highly controversial for decades.

“Heathrow is running out of capacity… So if we want to go beyond a certain number at Heathrow, whether that is 90 million passengers or anything around that, we need a third runway, that’s not a discussion,” Woldbye said.

“So the next thing is, how do we then realize that, if that’s what we want. ‘We’ here is not just Heathrow, that’s the airlines, it’s government, it’s parliament, it’s everybody around us. Because if the U.K. does not want a runway, why would it be built? And that’s not for Heathrow to decide. We’re the executors … But transportation strategy is a government issue,” Woldbye said, acknowledging it was “not an easy decision.”

“The project is there, we know how to build it. It has been there for a long time,” he continued. “I’m going to [the U.K. government] and saying all this, the demand is there. But this would be one of the biggest infrastructure projects in U.K. history, so we have to ask government, are you along for the journey? If not, we forget it.”

Woldbye added that there was “definitely positive momentum” behind such discussions with the new Labour administration, and that he expected a final decision by the end of 2025 “one way or another.”

“Otherwise we keep wasting money and time. I’m serious about getting a decision and about getting the right decision,” which would be one guided by overall U.K. strategy, he said. Woldbye explained that if the project did gain government approval but no public funding, then the airport would have to present a clear, costed proposal to Heathrow shareholders which he believed would find support.

The airport is attempting to increase capacity as much as possible through efficiency measures on its existing two runways and is developing a growth plan that does not involve a third runway, he said.

U.K. Transport Secretary Louise Haigh, speaking earlier in the day at the same conference, said: “I will always support airport expansion as long as it grows our economy and meets our environmental commitments.”

Debate over whether to build a third runway at Europe’s busiest airport has rumbled on for nearly two decades, and the plans have been subject to numerous government and legal reviews, and public consultations.

Environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth fiercely oppose Heathrow expansion on the grounds that it will increase greenhouse gas emissions and harm local wildlife. Others argue it will increase noise pollution and traffic in a busy residential area, and require significant public disruption including major works to the M25, the main road around London.

In 2020, the U.K.’s top court overruled a lower court decision which had found that a previous government’s approval of a third runway was illegal because it did not consider the country’s commitments under the Paris agreement.

Heathrow expansion would be welcomed by many airlines, who have long bemoaned fierce competition and high costs for purchasing flight slots at the transport hub.

Heathrow passenger numbers soared to 79 million in 2023 from 62 million in 2022 as the pandemic travel rebound continued. The airline’s record was 80.9 million passengers in 2019.

Under the airport’s expansion proposal released six years ago, which is expected to be updated, the project would see a third runway built to the north west of its current two, along with construction of a new terminal building to replace the existing Terminal 3.

Its operations are currently capped at 480,000 flights per year, while its current plan would add another 260,000 flights to that figure.