V-Flyer

In today's Sunday Times, it is reported that Boris wants to build a new airport in Kent to replace Heathrow which could be ready in six years.

Jonathan

That plan has been mooted since I was at school and I am now retired [:w]

Originally posted by honey lamb
That plan has been mooted since I was at school and I am now retired [:w]

So many replies, so little time... [}:)]

[B)]

Originally posted by Darren Wheeler

Originally posted by honey lamb
That plan has been mooted since I was at school and I am now retired [:w]

So many replies, so little time... [}:)]

[B)]

Darren, be nice....and you never know, if you are nice HLmay tell us stories of plane spotting at Croydon !

This idea has been floated around for years, in the end I think the right way to do things is pretty much what the have been planning to do, redevelop LHR and.....add a second usable runway at LGW

Originally posted by Scrooge

Originally posted by Darren Wheeler

Originally posted by honey lamb
That plan has been mooted since I was at school and I am now retired [:w]

So many replies, so little time... [}:)]

[B)]

Darren, be nice....and you never know, if you are nice HLmay tell us stories of plane spotting at Croydon !

Doubtful, since I lived in the north of England. I can however tell stories of plane spotting from Squires Gate airport and the local Vickers (later Hawker Hunter) factory where my dad used to work. Best fun was the sound barrier testing [^]

Anything that comes out of Boris's mouth can be treated as rubbish. It will not happen!

Iain

One main reason this wont happen, transport infrastructure to the city from the Sheppey area is literally non existent so would have to be built from scratch as well as the airport. The nearest decent link is the new station at Ebsfleet for the Eurostar services.

Forgive me but wasn't the whole idea of STN back in the late 80's, to provide relief from LHR/LGW. All TATL carriers were supposed to flock to Essex and begin operating there.

What makes any official believe that another London airport will not follow the fate of STN and become an LCC hub?

Scrooge hit the nail on the head. Further development of LHR is vital, HEathrow East will help a lot. A 2nd runway at LGW is needed but alas that wont be allowed until 2019 or something due to an agreement with Crawley Council and BAA (one would presume the agreement covers any new operator).

Half the problem is that American Legacy carriers are hell bent on operating from LHR over LGW. I believe BAA is to blame in part, there has been no real incentives to stop the likes of CO and AA, from pulling out of LGW. This just helps to further make LGW an Easyjet hub and thus less appealing to international long haul carriers.

Whack in a good high speed rail link to LGW, make the south terminal a budget terminal, offer cheaper landing fees and other 'bonuses' for LGW and try to entice carriers back.

http://www.teaco.co.uk/

How the hell would they get the funding when the government are already twitching over the crossrail project.

I love this article from The Daily Mash... 12 year olds back Johnson airport plan

Originally posted by willd
Half the problem is that American Legacy carriers are hell bent on operating from LHR over LGW. I believe BAA is to blame in part, there has been no real incentives to stop the likes of CO and AA, from pulling out of LGW. This just helps to further make LGW an Easyjet hub and thus less appealing to international long haul carriers.

I was under the impression that the main drawback is the length of the runway at LGW. At LGW, runway 26L/08R is 3316m and runway 26R/08L is only 2565m, whilst the two runways at LHR are 3658m and 3902m.
Does anyone know what the longest haul is out of LGW?

Originally posted by wanderingmariner
One main reason this wont happen, transport infrastructure to the city from the Sheppey area is literally non existent so would have to be built from scratch as well as the airport. The nearest decent link is the new station at Ebsfleet for the Eurostar services.

Aside from the fact that this it the UK we're talking about and nothing ever happens without 20 years of handwringing before hand, dont' discount far away airports without transport links.
I spent 18 months flying in and out of Incheon Airport near Seoul which was built on land fill on the Yellow Sea over an hour from the city it is supposed to serve, and all the transport links to it had to be built from scratch. Even now the raillink is not complete in its entirety from city centre to airport - but the airport is thriving.
Hong Kong is another good example of moving an airport a long way from town - thought the raillink there was in place from day 1.

Originally posted by Ian
I was under the impression that the main drawback is the length of the runway at LGW. At LGW, runway 26L/08R is 3316m and runway 26R/08L is only 2565m, whilst the two runways at LHR are 3658m and 3902m.
Does anyone know what the longest haul is out of LGW?

Dont see why runway length is an issue.

All the legacies have served the US from LGW for many years, the mass exit has only been since Open Skies came into force.

VS have no problem in getting a full loaded 744 off the ground.

The reason why they have all run over to LHR is because of the better Business class yields and better connections.

ISTBC but the longest LH routes ex LGW were HKG by Oasis and JNB by Nationwide which were both stopped in the last 18 months. Now I would imagine it is some of the US routes.

Interesting. Thanks for that, willd.

Originally posted by wanderingmariner
One main reason this wont happen, transport infrastructure to the city from the Sheppey area is literally non existent so would have to be built from scratch as well as the airport. The nearest decent link is the new station at Ebsfleet for the Eurostar services.

1. Correct. However, given the poor state of infrastructure in the UK, this could be a good thing!
2. Osaka has ferry links. Why couldn't a mid speed boat do the journey instead? The ferry has been mooted for Essex. If they also ran one from Harwich / Felixstowe also, as well as Kent.....

The Tories' plans for LHR.

Link