Heathrow boss calls for Burnham to back third runway scheme

The boss of Heathrow Airport has hit out at the uncertainty over the hub’s planned expansion after Andy Burnham declined to back the scheme.

Chief executive Thomas Woldbye has urged the Prime Minister to throw his weight behind the development, adding “it would be good to know where Government is on this”.

He warned investment could be lost overseas without a firm commitment to the construction of a new runway.

Before Mr Burnham entered No 10, predecessor Sir Keir Starmer and then-chancellor Rachel Reeves had backed the construction of a third runway at the UK’s busiest airport.

But Mr Burnham has refused to confirm his support, saying it is subject to a consultation and then the planning process.

Mr Woldbye told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “The most important thing is what this project delivers for the UK, and I think seeing that, I hope the Prime Minister will come along.”

He said it will provide a “huge economic boost” and offer opportunities such as apprenticeships, which correspond with “the priorities that this Government has set out”.

Mr Woldbye said the process is “ongoing”, adding: “When we get to the end of those processes, which will be sometime towards the end of the year, it would be good to know where Government is on this.”

He warned the planned investment in the £33 billion scheme could go overseas unless there is certainty.

He said: “Our private investors, if they cannot invest in Heathrow which they own, they don’t own any other airports in the UK, and there is no project like a Heathrow expansion, then that money will be invested somewhere else in the world, maybe in a motorway in Spain or a hospital in Italy.

“Right now the discussion with by far most of the people I speak to is not so much about if we’re going to do this, but more how we’re going to do it and get all the factors right.

“I hope we can stay on that path because I think it is really, really important for the UK to get this project built.”

Heathrow expects to submit a formal planning application “in the next couple of years”.

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