ready for take-off
Back in the day when I used to pay people to pay attention to me, I took decisions. Big decisions. Any decision. Every decision. This is where we’re going. This is how we’re going to get there. Saddle-up, follow me. My way or the highway. I was very pro-decision and any decision was a good decision. And every decision was the right decision. Until, the post-Nasdaq crash of 2003 when our market bid au-revoir and retreated back to the US. Then it was more a case of, J’sus Christ, I’m going to have to start making the right decisions.
I don’t know about you, but I get the feeling Theresa May wants to be seen as a bit of a decision-taker? No ‘may’ about it, the lady’s pro-action. Issues that have been backed up, or kicked into the long-grass, are now back on the table and a need a decision, pronto. Eton School? I don’t think so. Cabinet? Better get your coat? Eleven Plus? Book that tutor. Article 50? Action it, now. Austerity? Debunk it, tout suite. Hinkley Point? Yes. No. Probably. Heathrow? No. Yes. Possibly.
All the signs are that Heathrow’s third runway is going to be given the green light, and, even as someone who’s under the flightpath, I’m OK with it. The prevarication was killing me more than the environmental impact in any case. And anyway, as a guy now involved in the world of media & publishing, I’m more concerned about the impact the removal of Heathrow & Gatwick advertising budgets will have on the newspapers and magazines I read!
In looking at the arguments that have been bandied about for years, the first thing that surprises me is that Heathrow hasn’t been there forever. I, probably like you, presumed that Heathrow was the first, the definitive airport, the pioneer, but we’d all be wrong, and its evolution into the world’s most well-known airport is fascinating. Opened in 1930 on land bought from the Vicarage of Heath Row, it operated as a commercial airport only in post-war Britain, when it replaced Croydon airport.
A little surprisingly, Heathrow has never been popular with Londoners and there have been numerous alternatives proposed, and dismissed. Think Bumpkin Boris’s Thames Estuary airport was a new idea? Think again as work had actually begun on Maplin Sands’ airport, deep harbour and high-speed rail-link, before being nipped-in-the-bud by the oil crisis of the early 70s. Proposals to build a third Heathrow runway were mooted as far back as 1990 but rejected in favour of squeezing extra use out of existing capacity. As a result, and irrespective of the colour of the government, this issue has subsequently raised its ugly head every couple of years but no new runway has been built to serve London since the 1940s.
Using both Heathrow and Gatwick in equal measure, I have to admit that I’d favour the latter as it seems much easier, less hassled and, irrespective of the distance, quicker to get into and easier to get out of. But I fully concede I’m not the usual user. Heathrow’s been operating at 100% capacity for years, Gatwick 85%, but LHR is the UK’s ‘hub’ airport and redirects travellers to over 185 other destinations. Competitive ‘hub’ airports include, amongst others, Amsterdam Schipol, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt am Main & Dubai. By contrast, Gatwick is ‘point to point’ shuttling predominantly local traffic to European holiday destinations and all the international airlines using Heathrow are now publically stating they won’t either relocate or share their international hub operations.
As it turns out, Theresa’s sensible option may be to do absolutely nothing: aircraft now have a longer range and ‘hubs’ may become less vital to longer flights, only 36% of Heathrow travellers are the higher paying, longer distance-travelling customers, and West London residents are particularly vociferous. Her ‘decision’, and that of the appointed sub-committee, is politically assured if nothing else. Over sixty rebel ministers, including many within her own cabinet, claim they’ll vote against Heathrow, with the Right Honourable Zac Goldsmith (remember him?) threatening to resign and stand as an ‘independent’ in the super-safe seat (for him) of Richmond Upon Thames. The ‘decision’s’ consultation & reflection period of at least a year, speaks volumes. Irrespective of the impression she wants to convey, never has no decision seemed the right decision.
I’ll leave the final indignity to the world’s favourite airline, and long-standing Heathrow stalwart, British Airways’ chairman, Willy Walsh, who thinks the proposed £18 billion expansion is a “complete rip-off” and is already actively exploring alternatives in Dublin & Madrid. I’d be amazed if a spade ever pierces the ground in the development of Heathrow’s third runway.
