London’s new Elizabeth Line should be extended to Southend airport to provide a quicker alternative to building a third runway at Heathrow.
The suggestion from Glyn Jones, chief executive of the Essex airport’s owners Stobart Aviation, came ahead of transport secretary Chris Grayling appearing before the transport selection committee this afternoon to discuss the government’s national policy on airports.
Jones said: “MPs need to urge the transport secretary to look more carefully at the smaller airports which can at least help solve the current capacity crisis.
“London Southend could accommodate ten times the million passengers it has now.
“But government firstly must support the improvement of connecting infrastructure. In our case, we ideally need a non-stop rail connection to at least Stratford in east London.
“Here’s a thought for parliamentarians – how about extending the new Elizabeth line to Southend. I bet it’d be quicker to do that than the time it’ll take for the first bulldozer to start building a third runway at Heathrow.”
The Elizabeth Line is due to fully open in December 2019 from Reading and Heathrow in the west through central London tunnels across to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.
Describing the fifth evidence session on the airports national policy statement inquiry as a “yet another talking shop,” Jones added that “we seem to be no nearer a final decision on a new runway for the south-east”.
He said: “The runway is at least a decade away, will come at huge cost, won’t ultimately fix the desperate shortage in capacity, and let’s be honest, the knock-on effects of delays are not getting any better.
“All London airports except Southend will be full within the next four years.”