Boris Island: Even The Airlines Don’t Want It

plane_overhead_01032010.jpg
Image by purvesjk from the Londonist Flickr pool

Boris can be a divisive figure at times, but his plans for a Thames Estuary airport have managed to bring together pretty much everyone (politicians of every hue in Kent, the RSPB, ‘call me Dave‘) in opposition to him. Now the Board of Airline Representatives UK – which covers 80 of the 90 airlines using Heathrow – have come out against the plans.

They say planes would still have to fly over London and if Boris Island were to ever open its doors, a knock-on effect would be a necessary redesign of continental airspace, which we can’t imagine anyone welcoming with open airs. BA head Willie Walsh also points out that moving London’s main airport across town would create a “vast wasteland west of London”. It’s all sounding less and less feasible (like building a floating airport in the aftershock of one of the world’s greatest economic crises was ever going to be a breeze).

But Boris is carrying on with his plans and reports almost as if he, according to rumour, thinks he has a ‘divine right to rule‘. He’s spreading the burden around though: answering a question from Caroline Pidgeon, Boris revealed he’s letting poor old Kit Malthouse meet angry Kent politicians tomorrow. How nice of him.

  • IanVisits

    Where Willie Walsh sees a “vast wasteland”, I see a massive potential for redevelopment, a new Docklands, – albeit without the water – but with all the transport infrastructure in place before the skyscrapers arrive.

    Instead of being a wasteland, the redevelopment of the Heathrow area as commercial space should help create a bubble of high-wage jobs away from the City/Docklands cluster.

    The value of the redevelopment could well fund the cost of building Boris Island.

  • http://undefined Chris

    Here,here,IanVisits- while we’re at it, perhaps naughty Lord Ashcroft could finance it to make amends for his current disgrace. Master Boris could be given his own island to govern, which might distract him from wanting to take over from our Dave when he gets fed up with leading what will become the disenchanted conservative party.

  • http://undefined James

    Thanks for using my pic!

  • http://undefined James

    Yes, Ian’s spot on. Heathrow’s transport links are awful for an airport, but they’re excellent for a very large mixed-use development of a scale that would begin to address London’s housing shortage. But I think that Boris Island is overkill: with HS2, London can nick Birmingham International and focus the expansion there in such a way as to create economies of scale for long-haul airlines by abolishing the senseless duplication between Heathrow and northern airports.