Heathrow to submit third runway proposal by summer
The move comes after chancellor Rachel Reeves said last month the government would back the construction of a new runway
A British Airways passenger plane takes off behind houses next to land earmarked for a third runway at Longford near Heathrow Airport. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Pramod Thomas is a senior correspondent with Asian Media Group since 2020, bringing 19 years of journalism experience across business, politics, sports, communities, and international relations. His career spans both traditional and digital media platforms, with eight years specifically focused on digital journalism. This blend of experience positions him well to navigate the evolving media landscape and deliver content across various formats. He has worked with national and international media organisations, giving him a broad perspective on global news trends and reporting standards.
LONDON's Heathrow Airport, one of the world's busiest hubs, will submit its proposal for a third runway to the British government by summer, its chief executive Thomas Woldbye will say in a speech on Wednesday (12).
The move comes after chancellor Rachel Reeves said last month the government would back the construction of a new runway at Heathrow to boost trade and economic growth.
"A third runway is critical for the country's future economic success, and I confirm we will submit our plans for a third runway to government this summer," Woldbye will say, according to a preview of his speech.
Heathrow will consult stakeholders including airlines and local communities before finalising the plan, he will say, and the project will only go ahead if rules on noise, air quality and emissions are met.
Successive governments have dithered over whether to expand the site to the west of London, caught between the need for more capacity and concerns over the environmental impact.
Reeves, who has pushed for growth since her Labour party came to power last July, said the case for a third runway was stronger than ever and she wanted to see permission being granted by the end of this parliament in 2029.
Woldbye previously said a third runway could be operational by 2035.
Even with the government's support, the plan - one of the country's most controversial infrastructure projects - has numerous hurdles to overcome before construction can start, including how it would be financed.
Heathrow is operating at 99 per cent capacity and risks being overtaken by European rivals. Its two runways compare with four each in Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt Airport, and six at Amsterdam's Schiphol.
Woldbye will also launch on Wednesday a privately-funded plan to upgrade existing infrastructure at Heathrow. It includes new investment to improve terminal infrastructure and local transport connections.
Dr Malhotra, an advisor to US health secretary Robert F Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Action, also serves as Chief Medical Advisor to Make Europe Healthy Again, where he campaigns for wider access to vaccine information.
Dr Aseem Malhotra, a British Asian cardiologist, and research psychologist Dr Andrea Lamont Nazarenko have called on medical bodies to issue public apologies over Covid vaccine mandates, saying they have contributed to public distrust and conspiracy theories.
In a commentary published in the peer-reviewed journal Science, Public Health Policy and the Law, the two argue that public health authorities must address the shortcomings of Covid-era policies and acknowledge mistakes.
They note that while early pandemic decisions were based on the best available evidence, that justification cannot continue indefinitely.
“Until the most urgent questions are answered, nothing less than a global moratorium on Covid-19 mRNA vaccines — coupled with formal, unequivocal apologies from governments and medical bodies for mandates and for silencing truth seekers — will suffice,” they write.
Dr Malhotra, an advisor to US health secretary Robert F Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Action, also serves as Chief Medical Advisor to Make Europe Healthy Again, where he campaigns for wider access to vaccine information.
In the article titled Mandates and Lack of Transparency on COVID-19 Vaccine Safety has Fuelled Distrust – An Apology to Patients is Long Overdue, the authors write that science must remain central to public health.
“The pandemic demonstrated that when scientific integrity is lacking and dissent is suppressed, unethical decision-making can become legitimised. When this happens, public confidence in health authorities erodes,” they write.
They add: “The role of public health is not to override individual clinical judgment or the ethics that govern medical decision-making. This is essential because what once appeared self-evident can, on further testing, prove false – and what may appear to be ‘safe and effective’ for one individual may be harmful to another.”
The article has been welcomed by international medical experts who say rebuilding trust in public health institutions is essential.
“It might be impossible to go back in time and correct these major public health failings, which included support of futile and damaging vaccine mandates and lockdowns and provision of unsupported false and misleading claims regarding knowledge of vaccine efficacy and safety, but to start rebuilding public confidence in health authorities (is) the starting point,” said Dr Nikolai Petrovsky, Professor of Immunology and Infectious Disease, Australian Respiratory and Sleep Medicine Institute, Adelaide.
“This article is a scholarly and timely review of the public health principles that have been so clearly ignored and traduced. Without a complete apology and explanation we are doomed to pay the price for failure to take up the few vaccines that make a highly significant contribution to public health,” added Angus Dalgleish, Emeritus Professor of Oncology, St George’s University Hospital, UK.
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