Crazy Heathrow Expansion
Draft expansion plans for Heathrow were published today. I can only presume they are serious and this is not someone’s idea of a joke. The proposals are for a third runway and a sixth terminal.
Expansion plans could see the annual number of passengers rise from 67m to 116m in 2030.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4612393.stm
This £7bn development would come after the fifth terminal, which is due to open in 2008 at a cost of £4.2bn.
What the authors of the plan seem not to be aware of is oil depletion. There is a very strong argument for peak oil within this decade. After peak oil, oil prices will rise significantly forcing the already struggling airlines out of the sky. That someone, somewhere thinks that Heathrow is going to need to expand to cater for increased traffic after 2010 is crazy, it shows just ignorant of the problem so many people are.
This post was written by Chris Vernon
This entry was posted on Monday, June 6th, 2005 at 9:37 pm and is filed under Hydrocarbon Depletion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 10th, 2005 at 12:22 am
Who knows, in 15 years, Rolls Royce might be producing air/hydrogen burning thrust controlable rocket engines that bolt straight onto an A380…
Then again, I might have to sail back to NZ for Xmas…
Point is, while if *I* was responsiible, I wouldn’t be building new terminals and runways, they just might have the last laugh…
June 12th, 2005 at 7:06 pm
Well, I’ve been guilty of much air travel in my life, but nearly all for ‘work’. We did once return from UK to Africa by boat but its grieved me that its cheaper to fly around Europe than take a train. Now we’re
moving house, to one on the outskirts of a town so we could have a reasonable garden to grow own fruits & vegetables, 10 minutes walk into town so we do not need fuel to get there, along the tow path of a canal built c. 200 years ago for freight, now used only by pleasure boats but who knows, maybe freight barges (horse drawn?) will become economic again?
November 27th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Incredible, one can only imagine there are some very well paid politicians looking forward to generous consultancies once they’ve guaranteed billions to the aviation industry. There is not a single, rational argument in favour of Heathrow expansion yet the government still insists, before the consultation has even finished, that their stated aim is a 3rd runway and the ending of runway alternation. Can it be stopped? I hope so, and it may be the first time that many of the affluent residents of West London get up and protest, realising this will affect their quality of life from now for ever more. Good luck to them, I’ll be there.