HEATHROW TO UNVEIL OPTIONS TO SHAVE £2.5 BILLION OFF EXPANSION PLANS

Heathrow today claimed that it has come up with some options to shave up to £2.5 billion off of its expansion plans.

The UK hub insists that the savings could be delivered without compromising on its commitments to local communities or passenger experience.

And it says "the reduced cost options", which could see the estimated development bill drop to £14 billion, have been developed with input from the airlines, and will be consulted on in January.

The proposals – which will be released in detail as part of Heathrow’s public planning consultation in January – would ensure that Heathrow expanded with airport charges staying close to today’s levels.

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The options that would enable the identified £2.5bn cost reductions involve three things:

• Repositioning new buildings over existing public transport and baggage infrastructure. This includes building additional capacity at both Terminals 2 and 5 rather than a dedicated terminal or satellite building between today’s northern runway and the new northwest runway

• Technological advancements which reduce the amount of terminal space required to process passengers without compromising experience

• More efficient phasing of capacity construction – incrementally increasing terminal capacity in blocks to better match growing demand

Heathrow’s executive director expansion, Emma Gilthorpe, said: “The Secretary of State set us the challenge to deliver an expanded airport for Britain with passenger charges staying close to current levels. 

"We have now identified potential savings of £2.5bn and are increasingly confident we can meet the affordability challenge. 

"We are looking forward to presenting detailed options on how to do it in our consultation in January, and while we will continue to work to reduce the cost of expansion, we will not compromise on our local commitments.”