Thames Hub Airport

Expansion of London’s airports

Expanding the capacity of London’s airports to meet growing demand is an issue that successive governments have failed to address since the 1950s. In recent years it has been widely claimed that, to provide the level of connectivity that the UK and London require to maintain their global hub status, the capital requires additional hub airport capacity. Proponents of this idea, such as business lobby groups and the aviation industry, believe that further expansion of London’s point-to-point airports, such as Gatwick and Stansted, would not address London’s claimed need for extra hub capacity. However, some transport experts and many politicians and organisations dispute the need for a single huge hub.

London’s largest and only hub airport, Heathrow, has been operating at almost full capacity since 1993. The two-runway airport is less than 20 miles west of Central London and is completely surrounded by urban development, leaving no room to build additional runways to cater for additional air passenger demand. Due to the UK’s prevailing southwesterly winds, aircraft predominately approach Heathrow over Central London. As a result, over 750,000 people live within the 55dB aircraft noise contour and suffer from aircraft noise pollution.

Thames Estuary Airport

A proposed solution to the need to expand London’s hub airport capacity, which has been studied on a number of occasions, is to build a new hub airport in the Thames Estuary. Following the work of the Roskill Commission, in 1973 the Maplin Airport Development Act was passed to enable an airport to be built at Maplin Sands. However the project was cancelled in 1974.

In 2009, London Mayor Boris Johnson announced his support for a proposed new offshore airport in the Thames Estuary at Shivering Sands that had been developed by former Crossrail chairman Doug Oakervee. At the time, the idea of an estuary airport was lampooned by the press.

Thames Hub integrated infrastructure vision

In November 2011 Lord Foster launched the concept of the Thames Hub integrated infrastructure vision – an integrated infrastructure development in the Thames Estuary which included a high-speed rail line, a combined Thames road and rail crossing and a flood protection barrier incorporating Renewable energy generation#Hydropower renewable energy generation, and a new 150 million passenger hub airport.^[2]

Advantages

• Significant reduction in the number of people impacted by noise because aircraft would predominantly approach the airport over water
• 24-hour operation (not possible at Heathrow)
• Reduced air-pollution impacts - aircraft emissions disperse over water
• Opportunity to redevelop the Heathrow site for housing and a new commercial centre

Challenges

• Bird strike: 300,000 birds that breed along the flight path.
• Relocation of airport staff and businesses that are currently located around Heathrow
• Dealing with the wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery with its 1,400 tonnes of explosives, just off the Nore
• Working around the natural gas terminals that import and temporarily store 20% of the UK’s natural gas
• Fitting another airport in this crowded airspace. On 13 April 2012, Richard Deakin, the head of National Air Traffic Services, commented that "the very worst spot you could put an airport is just about here". He continued, "We’re a little surprised that none of the architects thought it worthwhile to have a little chat."^[3]
• Due to the proximity to water in a temperate climate, fog could be an issue which reduces the capacity for aircraft to land. The Met Office provided a study that stated there would be three times as much fog than at London Heathrow over the course of the year.^[4]