The UK aviation regulator as called for a third runway at Heathrow to be “affordable and commercially financeable”.
New Civil Aviation Authority chief executive Richard Moriarty made his comments at yesterday’s Abta Travel Matters conference in London as part of a wider speech.
This follows the vote in Parliament on Monday on the National Policy Statement giving Heathrow outline planning permission for the £14 billion third runway.
Moriarty said: “On infrastructure, our goal is to support improving the UK’s aviation capacity and resilience so it can continue to support your aspirations to grow and the future demand from consumers.
“This includes our work on developing a regulatory framework to support an affordable and commercially financeable new runway at Heathrow. It also includes our work on modernising airspace – the vital infrastructure of the sky.”
His comments came as Heathrow’s owners forecast in a half-yearly investor report dividend payments to shareholders of £455 million.
The figure was highlighted by the Heathrow Hub consortium which is promoting an alternative extended runway scheme at the airport at a claimed cost of £9 billion.
Heathrow Hub also pointed to airport chief executive John Holland-Kaye’s admission to BBC Radio 4 in the wake of the vote by MPs on the third runway that it would be “foolish to guarantee flat charges at this stage”.
Heathrow Hub director Jock Lowe said: “Richard Moriarty is totally right about Heathrow’s vague promises on costs.
“We have campaigned tirelessly to show that our scheme is cheaper, simpler, quicker and quieter but the DfT [Department for Transport] has consistently refused to acknowledge our evidence.
“We have complained to the Competition and Markets Authority about the flawed process and are still hopeful that common sense will prevail, and our scheme be adopted.”