Heathrow announces …. nothing much at all

Heathrow, as you may have seen from the TV last night or the press this morning, was trailing a major announcement today about its interim investment plans in advance of seeking planning permission for the third runway.

The announcement is now out and it contains …. nothing. Well, nothing new.

It gives the impression of being rushed out to keep up momentum after the surprise third runway announcement by the Government two weeks ago.

The aiport has, it claims:

announced the largest private investment programme in Heathrow’s history

…. but if it has I’m struggling to find the document.

This is what was actually annnounced:

Terminal 2

Heathrow will work with airlines and the regulator to finalise plans to invest in the capacity of Terminal 2

Plans to expand Terminal 2, once the baggage handling system has finally moved from Terminal 1 (which was closed TEN YEARS AGO, remember) are long known. The existing terminal was built to be expanded and the core infrastructure is already in place. Let’s not discuss why Terminal 2 was built without a baggage handling system and instead simply gained a connection to the life-expired one in Terminal 1.

Look at the wording used though.

Heathrow will ‘work’ to ‘finalise’ ‘plans’ to invest in the Terminal 2 expansion.

It’s not announcing the investment. It’s not even announcing a detailed plan. It’s announcing that it intends to create a plan. It’s not exactly ‘shovel ready’.

Virgin Atlantic has stated that its support for the third runway is conditional on a move to the expanded Terminal 2 so I suspect we will see this project pushed along.

Terminal 5

Heathrow will make changes to optimise and increase passenger capacity in Terminal 5

Terminal 5C is shorter than the other buildings and could be extended, although if that was the plan I suspect it would have been explicitly mentioned. The original plans included a BA lounge complex in Terminal 5C, and the space for the necessary escalators is already reserved.

Remote stands

It’s not clear how much ‘investment’ is required to have a remote stand but:

Heathrow will reconfigure and improve the layout of the airfield, increasing the number of aircraft stands, to improve resilience and punctuality.   

There are also some ‘not very firm’ plans on public transport and the environment:

The investment programme includes plans to further improve bus and coach connections to encourage sustainable and active travel options and benefit our local communities.  

New infrastructure will have improved environmental credentials and will use more sustainable sources of power, supporting the ambitious targets set out in Heathrow’s Connecting People and Planet sustainability strategy.  

One way of improving public transport use would, of course, be for Heathrow to bring back its subsidy for local bus services to allow passengers and airport employees to travel around the airport perimeter for free.

Anyone hoping for a detailed timeline for Heathrow terminal expansion today will have been surprised. Those who have followed Heathrow’s promises on investment will have known what to expect.