Incoming from LAX the other day, did a dozen laps around/over London before fiinally landing....so many liittle circles over the on-screen in-flight map....:td::td::mad::mad:

I've only lived here 4 years,and this could be said about many a country's political system I suppose......yet it seems this government's motto is "Why do something about a problem when you can talk about it?"

However the environmentalists would complain so much about the new runway, yet think its okay to keep flying around the south of UK.

I think one has to bear in mind that this is not really a this government/that government issue.

The Labour government did absolutely nothing on this issue from 2 May 1997 to 11 May 2010, while spending money it didn't have like water.

To lay the blame for all this historic dithering on the current Coalition which has been in power less than two years, and with slightly more important things to clear up due to the incompetence of the previous bunch, is an extraordinary perspective to adopt.

A new strategic hub, with an integrated Thames Crossing, has to be the way forward:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/...63_634x446.jpg

Oh no it isn't :D :D

Agree completely on the rest of your post, though. Dithering and pandering to interest groups ad infinitum :mad:

OK, let us pretend that the Thames island is the best and greatest idea out there. What is the timetable? Talks for the next ten years to agree to actually start building it? Surely at least another 5 years to acquire all the land and prepare everything? Another 5 years of construction until the bare minimum opens? Another 5 until it is complete? By that time, in 25 years, maybe the transport links will be ready, maybe not for another five years. So very optimistically we are talking 30 years, the year 2042??!! Guess what London needs more capacity YESTERDAY, forget about 30 years in thr future. Assuming that things got going a LHR runway could be up in running in far less than 5 years, at which time the new LGW runway will also be being built and ready to open in 2019, maybe that will be half of what they need in order to "hold" the situation until such a "brilliant" Thames project is finished one day. in the meanwhile Britain and its trunk carrier (and a half) will fall further behind.............

Thames Airport is the long term solution and this country can start planning it once we have a THIRD RUNWAY FGS!

Anyway I was looking into Northolt today and the idea is hugely growing on my

Not to mention that Singapore has a runway some distance from the terminal which is used by military

Amsterdam Schiphol's famous Polderbaan is 4 miles away!

And Frankfurt previously looked at using a US airstrip in Weisbaden several miles away to link with an airside rail link when they were worried that their fourth runway wouldnt be approved

Not to mention at Heatholt joint hub would be a hell of a lot easier, quicker and cheaper to operate than a Heathwick hub

You could get your hub and 4 runways at STN. The room is there. It was designed and located with a 4 runway airport in mind. Infrastructure is in place already, and has room to allow for improvements. No need for land reclamation. No need to solve the bird problem - if solvable at all. No need to build basic infrastructure. The SS Montgomery certainly isn't going to go away easily.

I know job relocation is a problem, but its inevitable with any decisive, long term solution. Tacking bits onto Heathrow doesn't solve the problem in the slightest.

Heathwick is just another way of tacking bits onto Heathrow - not a long term solution. The fact that the two airports are separately owned is a real killer also.

The Hub and it's associated benefits is a wonderful idea, the Thames Airport less so. Just base it around STN instead.

I like this idea, in fact Stansted was designed to be a 4 runway US Style hub for Britain. However in typical British complacency we built one runway but didn't bother building any of the others. So 40 years later the Labour government finally planned the second runway only for them to lose the next election to a bunch of eco halfwits who banned the development.

Anyway this idea is good because of the ample land around STN and also NIMBYs are less of a problem.

Heres what I would do in such a case

= Buy around 2100 hectares of land to add on to the current 900 hectares to create a 3000 hectare Hub (triple the size of Heathrow and similar in size to Paris Charles de Gaulle)

= Lengthen the current runway to 4000 metres and construct another three 4000 metre runways to make it A380 friendly

= Upgrade the Stansted Express to make it even faster

= Construct two huge terminals with capacity for 50 million in each, then demolish the current Stansted terminal and replace it with another 50 million pax terminal bringing capacity to 150 million

= Forcibly close Heathrow and make all current airlines move to Stansted, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic would have their whole operations based here

= Allow some low cost flights to fly from Stansted but construct new runways at Luton, Southend, Gatwick and Birmingham to allow for low cost flights to move there


Result = A large 4 runway hub with capacity for 150 million passengers a year, almost identical to Thames Hub but without any land reclamation or new motorways, plus birds will be okay :D

That's hardly fair. For the south east alone, the Labour government proposed expanding Stansted and Gatwick and were in favour of BAA'a proposal for a third runway at Heathrow and saw through the public inquiry and subsequent building of T5. The current government's policy has been to do nothing whatsoever to expand air capacity.

Im not very political but this is one of the reasons why I voted Labour in the last election

If they had won the third runway would be under construction NOW :(

hmm how would the labour party pay for a thrid runway???

Private finance had already been sourced.

I very much doubt that. Probably more like construction would start around 2020 at the earliest.

BAA and the airlines at Heathrow already had the money sorted

the money wasnt the problem

all the government needed to do was say 'yes go ahead and heres your planning permission'

Labour were prepared to do that

Unfortunately the eco halfwits in government wernt

The third runway was planned to open in 2019

It would be under construction now because the big court case against it was in 2009 and it would have been around 2011 when it was resolved so now we are almost half way in to 2012 I am confident trucks, cranes, workmen and earth movers would be in Sipson right now