There is no doubt that Heathrow is the world’s biggest and most important airport. The volume of traffic that flows through the airport each and every day is phenomenal. It handles well over sixty million passengers each year, so it never has a quiet moment.
It is perhaps surprising to learn then that it has just two runways at the present time – the Northern and Southern runways. But that could all be about to change if current plans to introduce a third runway at Heathrow come to fruition.
The news headlines have been jam packed with reports on these controversial plans of late. And no matter whether the proposed third runway actually happens or not, there is bound to be a raft of complaints continuing long into the future.
So where do the problems lie?
Well, as far as Heathrow itself is concerned the current situation with just two runways does not meet the needs that the airport has for future expansion. With the recently opened Terminal 5 taking its place as just another step in those ongoing expansion plans, it is clear that the volume of planes taking off and landing at the airport cannot be expanded indefinitely unless a third runway is put into place.
However, the big problem is the fact that those people who live under the flight paths of those planes are going to be faced with an ever increasing amount of air traffic going over their homes. And this will happen every single day – not exactly an ideal situation when you have to live with the noise levels all the time. Not only would the property prices be likely to take a nosedive, the quality of life for everyone living in that area would be much worse as well.
But according to those who are opposed to the scheme, there are other things to bear in mind too.
One of the most important is the fact that if the third runway was to go ahead, the air pollution limits would be seriously jeopardised. Just imagine for example that there were just 50 planes taking off every day from each runway. That’s 100 planes at the moment… and an increase of 50% if the plan went ahead. And this of course leads to an increase of 50% in emissions as well.
It has been confirmed that the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, will take the government to court if they don’t put their foot down and oppose the plans for the runway.
It is clear that should the plans for that runway be approved, there will be more opposition to delay any prospects of the building beginning in the near future.
So no matter what your own personal feelings about the runway might be, it could be some time yet before it actually comes into being. And that is assuming it even happens at all. If it doesn’t, there is a chance that Heathrow may fall behind the competition it has for the position of being the best airport in the world.