| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:BA Flight Lands Short of Runway at Heathrow | |
| Posted by: | Michael Daley | |
| Date/Time: | 27/01/08 10:13:00 |
| I found a good paper on the net sometime ago suggesting just that. With a very short increase in runway length, the paper argued, Northolt could handle much if not all of the traffic now destined for the new third at LHR. The costs of adding infrastructure at Northolt also seemed modest. The transport connections are good by both road and tube, and with a "hundred yards" or so of new track at Ealing, a direct overground connection could be established between the main terminals at LHR and Northolt. The time from LHR to Northolt would be, the paper argued, about the same as a moving between the existing terminals and a new third runway, thus making use of both existing airports highly viable. But Northolt has never featured in a serious assessment of use in this mode. Apparently one Tony Blair gave a personal assurance that it wouldn't (it is alleged). I guess the key point here is the promised economic benefits could be delivered sooner, at a lower cost, while the economic costs of removing of thousands of perfectly usable houses and blighting 2 million lives would largely (obviously not wholly) be reduced. A bit too clever, unless more expansion in terms of runways and terminals was the real agenda. |