Heathrow terminal 6 in jeopardy

It has been decided that plans for a 6th terminal will be halted to keep costs down whilst the 3rd runway is being built.   Heathrow published its half yearly report last month, which made no mention of the proposed plans.  Instead it stated that further investment in terminals 2 and 5 will go ahead instead, which allows the work to be done over a longer period of time to keep the costs under control. Whilst keeping costs under control, this also means that passengers will not face an increase in air fares despite the building of the 3rd runway. When terminal 6 was submitted for public consultation it discussed the loss of up to 700 homes in the area, and was scheduled to be built by 2020. According to the report, over 30% of the UK’s non-EU exports by value pass through Heathrow today. In the six months ended 30 June 2017, Heathrow’s cargo volumes increased 9.1% to 0.82 million tonnes, one of the strongest periods in the last 5 years in terms of year on year performance, with notable increases on North America and the Middle East. John Holland-Kaye, Chief Executive Officer of Heathrow, said: “Heathrow’s strong start to 2017 is a boon for Britain…more British trade is flying high on new trading links and our expansion plans are on track. The Government set us the challenge to expand Britain’s hub while keeping airport charges close to current levels. Working with airlines, we are making good progress to meet this challenge whilst delivering all our local commitments and the global connections our country needs.” Earlier this month it was announced that MPs will now not vote on Heathrow’s proposed expansion until 2018, with a final policy statement on airport capacity in the South East being delayed until next year.