The mega-airport everyone loves to hate is getting a $100b upgrade
The plan involves a £21 billion, 3500-metre runway, as well as building a new terminal, upgrading current facilities, and rerouting the M25, a major highway that circles London. The expansion project would allow 276,000 more flights a year and increase annual passengers from 82 million today to 150 million, Heathrow said on Thursday (Friday AEST).
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The Australian
7 hours ago
- The Australian
Heathrow unveils £49 bn expansion plan for third runway
London's Heathrow Airport on Friday unveiled a £49-billion ($65 billion) expansion plan, including the costs of building a long-awaited third runway, approved by the UK government after years of legal wrangling. The runway would cost £21 billion, with flights expected to take off within a decade, while the rest of the privately-funded investment will go toward expanding and modernising the airport. Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport by passenger numbers, said the expansion would provide at least 30 new daily routes, more domestic connections and improved flight times. The increased capacity would almost double the number of annual passengers from 84 million currently to up to 150 million passengers annually. "It has never been more important or urgent to expand Heathrow," said chief executive Thomas Woldbye. "We are effectively operating at capacity to the detriment of trade and connectivity," he added. Despite fierce opposition from environmentalists and local residents, London mayor Sadiq Khan and some Labour MPs, the Labour government backed the new runway in January in a bid to boost UK economic growth. It would be a rare expansion in Europe, where countries are split between efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the needs of a strategic sector that has seen demand grow. Heathrow has submitted its proposal for the 3,500 metre runway to the UK government, which has also invited a rival proposal. - Green trade-offs - Heathrow's proposal includes £12 billion to fund a new terminal and £15 billion for modernisation. "A third runway and supporting infrastructure can be ready within a decade, and the full investment across all terminals would take place over the coming decades," Heathrow said in a statement. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is determined to deliver major infrastructure projects to revive the UK economy that has struggled to take off since the party came to power a year ago. The government is expected to also back expansion at Gatwick airport, south of the capital, in October -- having recently approved upgrades to London's Stansted, Luton and City airports. Britain's Supreme Court ruled at the end of 2020 that Heathrow could build the third runway, overturning a legal decision to block construction on environmental grounds. Local residents "will see their lives put on hold for a few more years while more money and time is wasted on a doomed scheme," said Douglas Parr, policy director for Greenpeace UK. He added the plans "export more tourism wealth out of the UK in the most polluting way possible." Arora Group, one of Heathrow's largest landowners, on Thursday said it will submit a rival bid to build a shorter third runway, promising lower costs and less disruption to local residents and the environment. "This is the first time the government has invited a competing proposal for Heathrow expansion," the UK-based property and hotel firm said in a statement. British Airways owner IAG's chief executive Luis Gallego said the rival bid was "credible" as the group announced its net profit jumped 44 percent to 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in the first six months of the year on "strong demand". "We always think that competition is good to improve things, and we have seen that in commercial aviation in the past," he added. Airport-owner Heathrow's latest investment proposal comes in addition to plans to invest £10 billion over the next five years in upgrades to boost passenger numbers, which would be largely funded by higher charges on airlines. ajb/jkb/rl
The Australian
18 hours ago
- The Australian
ASX 200 live: Endeavour chair quits over 'disagreements'; BlueScope leads consortium's Whyalla play; Elanor bid
The Australian Business Network Welcome to the Trading Day blog for Monday, August 4. The ASX 200 index is down 0.1 per cent at 8650.30 points at 11.20am AEST, with bank and energy losses weighing. In the US, the S&P 500 index fell 1.6 per cent and the Dow Jones index fell 1.2 per cent. The technology-focused Nasdaq shed 2 per cent. Cryptocurrency giant bitcoin is around $US115,000. The Aussie dollar is trading around US64.73c. ASX valuations face profit season reckoning Trading Day Australia gets baseline 10 per cent US reciprocal tariff. ResMed beats earnings forecasts. Major companies brace as pandora's box on tax reform opens. Clock ticks for Star on $41m payout to HK partners, debt deal and costs after failed talks. Trading Day Rio declines on profit miss, copper price crash; BHP also drops. Flight Centre bets on loyalty, AI push for recovery. 'Few positives' in Beach Energy update. Analyst downgrades hit MinRes. Cettire shares slammed 23pc-plus.
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Visit this underrated European city before it becomes the next big thing
Belgrade doesn't have the pomp of Rome or Paris, the literary familiarity of London, or the cultural kudos of Athens. It isn't pretty. It doesn't have a distinctive look or a polished reputation. But all that is good news, because it means Belgrade has some of Europe's lowest costs and fewest crowds. Tourist visitors to all of Serbia hover just over two million; neighbouring Croatia attracts ten times as many. Get there now before Belgrade becomes the next trendy European getaway. The Serbian capital is booming, its inhabitants ambitious and defiant of negative stereotypes. You'll get new perspectives on an old continent, sights without queues, gritty history, and throbbing contemporary energy. Belgrade is one of Europe's oldest permanently inhabited capital cities but has never been tranquil. Buildings are pockmarked by bombing from its latest conflict following the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. A lot of architectural history has been erased, and Belgrade doesn't have access to European Union restoration money, yet in places is graced with unexpectedly elegant neoclassical streets and squares. The main monuments are its ruined Serbian-Ottoman-Hapsburg fortress and whopping Saint Sava Temple, the country's triumphant new expression of Serbian Orthodoxy. Its interior, encased in glittering gold mosaics, is stunning. Those of a certain age will also appreciate the House of Flowers, mausoleum of Josip Broz Tito, the Yugoslav president who died in 1980. Its architecture and exhibits are a throwback to the 1970s, when socialism and the Iron Curtain preoccupied the news cycle. But this perennial comeback city feels more about the future these days. Get walking, get talking to locals, get eating, and enjoy the energy and enthusiasms of this buzzing city.
