Sixth terminal for Heathrow?

The full extent of the crisis surrounding plans to expand Heathrow airport is revealed today.

A third runway would increase capacity by only 13 million passengers a year – fewer than half the Government’s prediction. Planes would have to cross paths, leading to massive delays.

The airport’s owner, BAA, says the only way to meet the target of 27 million passengers would be to build additional aircraft and facilities in what could amount to a hugely controversial sixth terminal – something which has not been made public until now.

The shock news is revealed today in evidence from BAA to a London Assembly investigation into the expansion of airport capacity in London and the South-East.

The findings will cause a dilemma for the Government, which is trying to work out how to meet the growing demand for air travel over the next 30 years.

A four-month consultation will look at the benefits of expanding Heathrow; adding up to three runways at Stansted; or building a new airport at Cliffe, in Kent. A costbenefit analysis from its own consultants favours a third runway at Heathrow – an option that also has strong backing from major players such as British Airways.

But according to BAA, a new runway at Heathrow would increase capacity by about 13 million – 14 million short of the Government’s estimates.

This is because planes would have to cross one of the existing runways 220,000 times a year.

An industry source said: “All the aircraft going to the third runway would have to cross the northern runway, which means you wouldn’t be able to have as many take-offs and landings. It would be like a zebra crossing.”

The revelations are contained in a letter from BAA’s executive chairman Janis Kong to the Heathrow Airport Consultative Committee. If capacity is to increase by 27 million, he says, “it would be necessary to provide additional aircraft and passenger facilities between the new runway and the northern runway (ie north of the A4) rather than between the existing runways as envisaged”.

A BAA spokesman said this would be a “satellite” terminal, rather than a full-blown sixth terminal.

But John Stewart, of anti-expansion campaign group HACAN ClearSkies, said: “It seems to me it’s a sixth terminal by definition. It’s not a little Nissen hut at the edge of the runway.” He said a number of hotels and business complexes on the edge of the A4 might have to be demolished to accommodate it, in addition to the 260 homes already under threat from the third runway.

“The Government and the Department for Transport have not done their homework,” Mr Stewart said. “They spend years drawing up these options but then get something as basic as this completely wrong.”

At present, there are two runwaysand four terminals at Heathrow, with a fifth terminal due to open in 2008. The airport is operating at full capacity with about 64 million passengers a year.

With five terminals and three runways, this would rise to 116 million a year by 2015.

A BA spokeswoman said Heathrow airport remained the airline’s favoured option for an international hub and would be the most cost-effective.