Airport forecasts cement the case for Heathrow, says DfT

New air passenger forecasts strengthen the case for building a third runway at Heathrow, says the DfT. But air quality concerns could prompt a phased opening of the new capacity.

Andrew Forster

10 November 2017

Air passenger demand is growing faster than the DfT’s 2013 forecasts predicted

The DfT presents forecasts under two scenarios: unconstrained and capacity constrained baseline, the latter assuming no new runway capacity

Anyone who responded to the consultation earlier this year on the Government’s draft airports national policy statement (NPS) may well feel they have better things to do with their time than respond to the revised draft NPS that has now been published for a fresh consultation. The new document reflects revised air passenger forecasts and is accompanied by a new appraisal of the Airports Commission’s three shortlisted options for expanding airport capacity in the South East, and a...