An Indian-born businessman is going up against Heathrow Airport in the battle to develop a third runaway and new terminals at the UK's main hub.
Plans submitted on Thursday mean Surinder Arora's £25bn plan could go head to head with Heathrow's own grander £33bn scheme to develop a longer runaway that goes under the M25 motorway.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander welcomed the new proposals as part of the government's plan to boost economic growth with large scale infrastructure projects.
To support the decade-long plan, the government is expected to announce an overhaul of the air traffic pathways to eliminate inefficiencies in stacking and flight path patterns.
Officials are reportedly ready to launch an Airspace Design Service to redraw corridors that allow the planes to queue for landing. The corridors were first outlined in the 1950s and there has been a more than 10 fold rise in traffic since that era.
Arora Group said its shorter runway length of 2.8km would deliver a “primary benefit” of avoiding the costly and disruptive need to divert the M25 motorway. It would also challenge the existing operator by constructing and running a new modernised terminal, Terminal Six, located west of the existing Terminal Five.
“Our Heathrow West proposal, which directly meets and supports the United Kingdom’s primary objective of unlocking economic growth at the UK’s only hub airport, with a strong commitment of doing so on-budget and on-time,” Mr Arora said. “The Arora Group has a proven track record of delivering.”
Heathrow Airport has countered with its own proposals and said its expansion would eventually amount to a £49bn investment plan that would see the runways, terminals and transport infrastructure undergoing an upgrade. “We are uniquely placed to do this for the country,” said chief executive Thomas Woldbye. “It is time to clear the way for take-off.”
Its plan promises to deliver an annual passenger footfall of 150m from 84m last year. It said its 3.5km runway would run to the north-west of the existing airport.
It said it would expand Terminal Five to two new arms to the west and north. It would also demolish terminals one and three and redesign three.
Ahead of an official review it offered to discuss with its airlines how a shorter runway would deliver the same benefits as its plan.
Arora has worked with leading engineer Bechtel for a cost estimate of under £25 billion and says its reduced land footprint will lessen disruption to local residents and businesses.
Arora says there would be 276,000 new flights annually to boost the daily traffic to 756,000 aircraft. Under its blueprint the new runway could be fully operational by 2035 and its new Terminal Six would open in two phases, in 2036 and 2040.
Heathrow has suggested that, despite government promises of a revamped planning process, its rival would face judicial review and other time consuming legal hurdles. The government’s ambition of securing planning consent by 2029 and a new runway being operational within a decade is a key factor in the bidding process.
It has also joined with airlines outside its current customer pool like easyJet to suggest new providers would operate from Heathrow for the first time.
It has also said it will try to match its connections to UK destinations to that at Amsterdam, which it currently lags by ratio of 23:13.
Other promises include a 50 per cent increase in cargo capacity plus 30 plus new daily flight routes to add to the 230 destinations to over 85 countries.
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UAE v Ireland
1st ODI, UAE win by 6 wickets
2nd ODI, January 12
3rd ODI, January 14
4th ODI, January 16
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Manchester United 3
Greenwood (21), Martial (33), Rashford (49)
Partizan Belgrade 0
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Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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