Heathrow West chair tells MPs an unaffordable third runway risks a 'ghost town'

Mixed · 2The Commons Transport Committee heard evidence on Wednesday 14 October 2026 on rival plans for a third runway at Heathrow. 1 2 Centre · 1Heathrow Airport's scheme is priced at £33 billion for a 3,500-metre runway, rising to £49 billion once terminal and other improvements are included, according to the Evening Standard. 1 Centre · 1The rival Heathrow West plan, from a subsidiary of Surinder Arora's Arora Group, proposes an initial 2,400-metre runway costing less than £25 billion and would not require moving the M25, which the Standard puts at £1.5 billion. 1

Right · 1City A.M. says Heathrow's scheme is expected to cost roughly £10bn more than Heathrow West's, which most major airlines support, and involves a longer runway, rerouting the M25 and relocating several lakes. 2 Centre · 1Arora, chairman of Heathrow West, told MPs that any scheme has to be affordable, warning that if Heathrow became several times the price of airports such as Schiphol or Charles de Gaulle, "it would become a ghost town". 1 Right · 1He said his firm worked with airlines on a two-stage plan, a shorter runway first and a full 3,500m strip later if ministers wish, which he said could be delivered five years faster than Heathrow's. 2

Right · 1Helen Elsby, Heathrow's chief solutions officer, said affordability should not be in the scorecard the government uses to choose a scheme, arguing it should be checked at regular points over a 20-year project and that a test in planning policy would compromise the Civil Aviation Authority's role. 2 Right · 1City A.M. reports that airlines and freight firms have lobbied for cost to be weighed before transport secretary Heidi Alexander picks a preferred scheme; the current framework covers climate, noise, nature and economic benefit but has no major cost benchmark. 2 Mixed · 2Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye dismissed the rival scheme as "not providing the capacity that we and the airlines need" and defended expansion as a source of jobs, trade and investment. 1 2

Centre · 1Woldbye warned that investors' money could go elsewhere, such as a motorway in Spain or a hospital in Italy, without certainty, and said a formal planning application is expected in the next couple of years. 1 Mixed · 2Political support is uncertain: Keir Starmer's government backed expansion, but Prime Minister Andy Burnham refused five times in an interview to say his would, and has called it a matter for "London and Londoners"; London Mayor Sadiq Khan has long opposed the runway. 1 2