Heathrow’s investors will reassess plans for a £33bn third runway if Andy Burnham does not give explicit backing by year-end, airport boss Thomas Woldbye warned. The UK’s only hub airport owners — including Ardian, Qatar’s investment authority, Saudi Arabia’s PIF and Singapore’s GIC — must decide early next year whether to submit a formal planning application. Woldbye said shareholders “cannot wait forever” for commitment from the prime minister, who has so far declined to support the new runway, unlike Sir Keir Starmer’s administration.
New chancellor John Healey has said an expanded airport would boost growth, but Burnham has avoided questions on whether he supports the plan, opposed by environmental campaigners and London Mayor Lord Sadiq Khan. Without the premier’s explicit backing, pushing the project through planning and legal processes will be very difficult. Heathrow has stressed economic benefits, including 100,000 new jobs and a GDP boost, with 60 per cent of benefits expected outside London.
Several key processes remain, including parliamentary scrutiny of a new policy framework, Civil Aviation Authority review of cost recovery, and Heathrow’s own consultation closing in December. Former chancellor Rachel Reeves set a timeline for construction to start by 2029 and a partly operational runway by 2035, though delays have pushed the earliest opening to 2039. Woldbye said hitting the 2029 planning deadline would be “challenging” but “we are working to 2029 and can see a path”.
The independent Climate Change Committee warned last month that Heathrow expansion was incompatible with the government’s climate targets, producing as much CO₂ as Birmingham.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing