The British capital will initially probably not get a new major airport: A Commission rejects the spectacular vision of Norman Foster as too expensive from. Instead, the existing Heathrow and Gatwick airports to be expanded – London up in arms.

Gigantic he should be, the Britannia Airport by star architect Norman Foster. Six take-off and landing strips on the Thames Estuary. Four aircraft should be able to take off and land at the same time. And the best part: The London’d heard nothing of all this, because the approach path over the North Sea would be. London Mayor Boris Johnson drummed tirelessly for the new hub, which should replace the city’s Heathrow Airport. Countless sleep disturbed residents pressed his thumb.

The dream is for the time being dreamed. The vision of the new super airport did not make it into the shortlist of the British Airports Commission. The working group reviewed on behalf of the liberal-conservative government options for the air traffic in the South East of England, put on the Tuesday before an interim report in London.

The Commission’s auditors write, the 112 billion-pound new throw too many questions. He was not only “extremely expensive”, but would also consider the closure of both Heathrow and City Airport to be. The economic consequences are not yet sufficiently analyzed.

Instead, the report suggests that by 2030, first equip one of the existing Heathrow or Gatwick with another runway. By 2050, a second new runway in the region could then be necessary, perhaps in Stansted or Birmingham.

We need additional capacity, said the commission chairman Howard Davies. But the decision should not be rushed. He stressed that Foster’s island airport is not definitively off the table. However, one must examine the plan in more detail.

London Airports:Dispute over Heathrow runway flares up again

Now, the debate over the expansion of Heathrow flares up again. London’s main airport with 70 million passengers the busiest airport in Europe. However, there are regular delays because only two start and runways are available.

2009, the Labour government had already decided a third runway under Gordon Brown. The then opposition leader David Cameron had sat down at the head of the protest movement. “No ifs, no buts,” the Tory leader drowned in the election campaign of 2010. A third runway at Heathrow, it will not give the Conservatives. After the election decision of the new Prime Minister David Cameron who revoked immediately Browns.

Meanwhile, the goal lead regretted this election promises. London falling behind Frankfurt and Paris, warn airport operators and industry associations. Under the lobbying pressure Cameron prepares now apparent change of course before: The interim report of formally independent Davies Commission is interpreted as a relaxation exercise. The paper will give Cameron “backing for a U-turn on Heathrow,” complained Mayor Johnson. But he himself still maintain that “An expansion of Heathrow would be wrong for London and wrong for the country.”

None of the expansion options is particularly convincing. Heathrow counter-appeals primarily to the situation: There is a lack of space, and the landing aviator to cross the entire city. Against the lying just outside Gatwick and Stansted in turn is objected that they are not hubs with connecting flights.

The business organizations have a clear preference for Heathrow. But Cameron wants to make a decision on new runways at the earliest after the next general election in 2015. Then the Premier no longer sees himself bound by his election promises. It applies only for the current legislative period, Transport Minister Patrick McLoughlin has already been explained.

The Heathrow opponents are up in arms, residents and activists in the successful campaign of 2009 announced new protests. Conservative member of Parliament Zac Goldsmith, whose constituency is under the flight path, threatened to resign if the party breaks their word. “David Cameron needs to think very carefully about that,” Goldsmith told the BBC. “A turnaround would be politically disastrous for him.” It would be “an unimaginable fraud and west London would never forgive him.”

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