Heathrow Airport’s competitor to build a proposed third runway has claimed that its plans would be more cost-effective and less disruptive than those of its rival.
Heathrow West Limited (HWL), a company founded by the hospitality operator Arora Group for the purposes of carrying out the expansion, today submitted its case to the government as to why its proposal should be selected.
The company intends to build a shorter 2,800m runway, which it claims will avoid the need to divert the M25 or build over the M4 spur while delivering similar capacity for flights.
In August, Heathrow made the case for the construction of a full-length, 3,500m runway, which it says is necessary to accommodate all long-haul flights.
While this would require works to be carried out on the M25, the airport has said that it has tested a plan for building next to the current motorway which would minimise disruption to motorists.
Heathrow has maintained that it can deliver an operational third runway for £21 billion within a decade, with the total cost rising to £49 billion when accounting for other expansion works.
In comparison, HWL argued that its plans would deliver around £10 billion in savings.
Surinder Arora, the Founder and Chairman of Arora Group and Director of Heathrow West Limited, said: “This is a once in a generation moment to finally deliver the expanded Heathrow that many in the airline and airport community have called for.
“As set out by the Secretary of State, expansion cannot mean “turning the M25 into Europe’s largest car park”, and Heathrow West clearly demonstrates that it doesn’t need to.”
Heathrow Airport declined to comment, except to confirm that it has also submitted additional information to the government and it is “waiting for the next steps”.
Thomas Woldbye, Heathrow’s chief executive, said at a conference last week that building a shorter runway would deliver “much less capacity” than the full-length version.
The government is set to make a final decision on which of the two privately-financed schemes will oversee the construction by the end of the month.
