An interesting proposal for LHR?

If it was as relatively easy to break the northern runway into two, extend it and introduce a 10 degree angle to each other as you suggest, don’t you think that BAA would have suggested this as a possible option in their own submission to the Davies Commission, or better still already have done it?

I’m no expert, but I can’t see it being that easy, which is why adding new runways and additional terminals is the option put forward.

I think that this also highlights one of the significant disadvantages that LHR has…it’s location and the area it is in is very constrained for space when it comes to expansion potential. If a new airport were to be built on the other side of London and joined up to the High-Speed rail and/or Crossrail network, it would only take 24mins to get into the Canary Wharf area of the City, which lets face it is where most of the big business is conducted thesedays. Whilst that’s slightly longer than the current 15mins on the Heathrow Express, that only goes to Paddington so travellers then have the hassle of having to get x2 Underground trains or a taxi in order to reach their final destination.

Everyone that is against the idea of a new airport says that you can’t close down LHR because of people’s jobs…well if people are as motivated as me to want to work in the industry, they will take whatever steps they can to ensure that they are able to move to a new location. Failing that, once the new airport has been constructed and becomes operational, Heathrow can then be turned into a huge new sub-city with residential areas and various business parks that will more than cater for if not provide even more jobs for the local population.

Are you seeing some sort of diagram?…I’m not

/—/
/—/

/ = runway
— = terminal, taxiways etc

The runways, if angled, would be a sort of slight V shape with the ends further away from each other one end but closer to each other the other end.

Unless of course they wer kinked in the middle

Are you seeing some sort of diagram?…I’m not

If you angle the runways away from each other when the wind is in the opposite direction they will be angles towards each other. Aircraft carriers steam into wind whichever way it blows.

Don’t follow you.

Using the example above; if the wind is from top to bottom of the page, then use the uppermost runways for takeoffs, and lower runways for landings.

Reverse the wind, then use bottom runways for takeoffs and top runways for landings.

[Obviously landing/taking off into the wind.]

Or do you mean cross winds leading to too great a potential for flight path crossing?

If you angle the runways away from each other when the wind is in the opposite direction they will be angles towards each other. Aircraft carriers steam into wind whichever way it blows.

I’m guessing doing this would be far easier in the planning application (lengthen a runway rather than a new one), but surely you would want them offset slightly?

Even better – take a leaf out of the lessons learned in aircraft carrier operations. Angle the runways off each other a bit:

/—/
/—/

It’d be relatively easy to break the northern runway in two, extend it and introduce a 10 degree angle to each other.

OK, the total runway length might be a bit shorter – but how many flights out actually need the full 3+km length?

Whilst it might be correct that this proposal would avoid the destruction of an entire village and bring 200,000 new residents into the airport’s noise footprint, can you imagine how unbearable it would be for those who already live within the airport’s noise footprint if they had to endure the noise that a doubling of the number of aircraft taking-off and landing would create?

Aircraft noise is by and by large a solved problem now.

The main issue is that the in-fleet aircraft largely lags behind the new (and thus very quiet aircraft).

When the A320NEO, A350, A380, B737Me2, B787, B777X and CSeries comprise the majority of flights into and out of airports; noise complaints will reduce to a fraction of what they are.

I’m guessing doing this would be far easier in the planning application (lengthen a runway rather than a new one), but surely you would want them offset slightly?

Sounds fraught with risk and difficulties to me. I go along with your first two alternatives – Manston has huge potential at relatively low cost for a new HS1 station and infrastructure to put it less than an hour from St Pancras International.