RHC responds to the Davies Commission

Heathrow does not need to be expanded to service more passengers

It is often said Heathrow is at capacity, but three proposals submitted by Richmond Heathrow Campaign to the Airports Commission suggest Heathrow could double its passengers without a 3rd runway or mixed mode.

    

1. Better use of daytime slots

A more even distribution of Heathrow flights across each hour of the day could improve resilience and provide headroom to eliminate night flights.

2. Better use of plane capacity

Increasing the seating capacity of the air fleet using Heathrow would facilitate full use of Heathrow’s terminal capacity of 90 million passengers a year (current use is around 70 million). At the Heathrow terminal Five Public Inquiry it was expected that by 2016 the average number of passengers per flight would be 187 but in 2012 it averaged only 149 passengers.

3. Better serving London and the South East

Reversing the growth in international transfers (currently around 20 million passengers a year connect at Heathrow between overseas destinations) could free up capacity for replacement by a growing number of terminating passengers on international flights (currently around 45 million) and free up runway capacity for additional destinations. International transfers overall are harming rather than benefiting Heathrow and incur no air passenger duty.

Passenger growth and increased connectivity at low cost with lower noise and pollution

  • These three proposals are relatively low cost compared to new runways and mixed mode.
  • The proposals are flexible in providing for passenger growth and increased connectivity in terms of both the number of destinations and service frequency as sought by the market.
  • They can be achieved without additional flights above the legal limit of 480,000 a year in unbroken segregated mode, close to which Heathrow is currently operating.
  • Importantly, the proposals reduce the existing high levels of night noise and avoid additional noise and pollution from more flights.

 
To see our detailed submissions please visit our Davies Commission Responses page.