Airport proposals in London

Heathrow's computer generated video of the options for the 3rd runway.

Mayor Boris Johnson said:

"There are absolutely no circumstances in which the expansion of Heathrow will be acceptable to London or of long term benefit to the country.

"Three-quarters of a million people are already seriously affected by aircraft noise in their homes, and we cannot allow private profit to dictate a worsening of that situation.

"There will be more pigs flying than aircraft if we are to believe the claim that three runways at Heathrow will make less noise than two.

"Their proposal would be a disastrous outcome for Londoners, nor would it solve our aviation capacity crisis as a fourth runway would need to be in the planning process before a third was even open.

"Any proposal for expansion of Heathrow is politically, environmentally and socially unacceptable."

The three runway options, according to the Heathrow plan are:

NORTH WEST - £17 billion - completed by 2026 - affect Harmondsworth and Longford

A 3,500 metre-long runway to the north west of the airport with passengers accessing it from a new Terminal 6 and an extended Terminal 2.

The building of the runway would affect the villages of Harmondsworth and Longford with 950 properties facing demolition.

Part of the M25 would have to be put in a tunnel. The runway would cost £17 billion and could be completed by 2026.

SOUTH WEST - £18 billion - completed 2029 - affect Stanwell Moor

A 3,500 metre-long runway covering an area of reservoirs and needing the compulsory purchase of properties in Stanwell Moor and 850 possible demolitions. Passengers would access via T6 and an extended T2.

The construction would be complex and challenging and would take longer and be more expensive than the other options. It could be ready by 2029 at a cost of £18 billion.

NORTH - £14 billion - completed 2025 - affect Sipson, Harlington and Cranford Cross

This would be the quickest and cheapest option but would allow only 700,000 flights a year with a runway only 2,800 metres long. Passengers would access via an extended T5 and extended T2.

A total of 2,700 properties could be demolished, with the villages of Sipson, Harlington and Cranford Cross affected. This runway could be finished by 2025 at a cost of £14 billion.

Heathrow chiefs today put forward three options for a new third runway at the west London airport, saying that any of the proposals will be good, and essential, for Britain.

Each option will allow Heathrow to move from 480,000 flights a year to 740,000, but the airport's bosses said fewer people would be affected by noise than at present.

However, each of the options will mean compulsory purchase of some properties, and some property demolitions, while there might have to be major work done on the M25 to accommodate a new runway.

There will also need to be a sixth terminal at Heathrow, with a new runway meaning the airport will be able to handle 130 million passengers a year rather than the current figure of 70 million.

The Heathrow executives, outlining their proposals in London today, said they did not think there would be a need for a fourth runway at Heathrow until at least 2040.

Heathrow bosses claim up to 20% fewer people will be affected by noise with a 3rd runway and is promising free noise insulation for some residents.

Heathrow has revealed three options for a 3rd runway which they call "a new approach". Its Chief Executive Colin Matthews says a 3rd runway is essential for the UK.

Heathrow bosses are set to publish their proposals submitted to the Davies Commission on a possible third runway at the airport.

The Airport Commission, led by Sir Howard Davies and otherwise known as the Davies Commission, is tasked with considering the future of airport expansion in Britain.

The submission from Heathrow will be published later on this morning.

The airport expansion debate will intensify tomorrow when bosses of Heathrow put the case for an extra runway at the west London airport.

It is thought the Heathrow chiefs could suggest the new, third runway be sited to the south-west of the airport rather than to the north as was originally envisaged.

The commission will also receive this week proposals announced yesterday from London Mayor Boris Johnson who is firmly opposed to expansion at Heathrow.

Shut Heathrow and in it's place build a new town for up to a quarter of a million people. That's one of Boris Johnson's ideas for dealing with the need to increase airport capacity for London.

To make up for losing Heathrow, he proposes one of three options:

A new airport in the Thames Estuary - the so-called "Boris Island" - a new airport in Kent, or expanding Stansted.

Friends of the Earth said the Thames Estuary airport scheme was a "pie-in-the-sky plan" and that Mr Johnson should "stop pitching communities in west London against those in Essex and Kent and back transport solutions that don't wreck our planet".

Rodney Chambers, leader of Medway Council in Kent, said: "For five years now, Boris has failed to listen to the huge number of people who have said that placing an airport in North Kent, on or near the Thames Estuary, is a complete non-starter."