“Expanding Heathrow Airport will be an expensive mistake,” says AEF in response to the airport submitting expansion plans

4th August, 2025

Reacting to the news that two bids have been submitted to the Government to build a third runway at Heathrow – one by owners Heathrow Airport and the other by the Arora Group – AEF’s Celeste Hicks, Policy Manager, said:

Expanding Heathrow Airport will be an expensive mistake and is unlikely to deliver the growth the government is so desperately seeking. Increasing the number of planes simply creates more opportunities for a small group of rich frequent flyers to take more leisure flights and to take their spending with them – the UK runs a £41bn tourist deficit with more money leaving the country than is brought in by foreign tourists. The number of business travellers has collapsed and with today’s virtual meeting capabilities, it’s unlikely they will ever recover. 

Hundreds of thousands of people living in local communities in West London and Berkshire will bear the brunt of this increased leisure flying. Aircraft noise, which can impact public health, will affect many communities for the first time. Previous attempts to expand Heathrow have failed on air pollution grounds, and expansion now could undo much of the fantastic achievements in recent years in reducing dangerous air pollution for West Londoners. The inevitable increase in carbon emissions will mean that other sectors such as agriculture, road transport and home heating will need to work even harder to decarbonise as aviation inflates its own share of the UK’s legally binding climate budget.

We’ve seen repeatedly how large infrastructure projects like HS2 have become expensive white elephants, and in one of the most densely populated areas of the country, it’s simply incredible to think that community concerns can be addressed effectively. We fear that in the dash for growth, the government could just bulldoze its way through the very legitimate concerns of communities.”  

And on what happens next:

We still have a long way to go. Today may have seen the submission of proposals, but the Government has already committed to reviewing the policy context – the Airports National Policy Statement – in the autumn as so much has changed since its original publication in 2018: passenger demand forecasts are out of date, climate targets have become more stringent, and last time round there was no compelling economic case to justify expansion once the associated environmental costs were taken into account. Given that thousands of people stand to see their homes either demolished or rendered uninhabitable because of noise, the Government will need to update the evidence, and thoroughly evaluate and justify the proposals, before any formal application can be submitted.”

For more information, please contact:

Celeste Hicks celeste@aef.org.uk or Tim Johnson tim@aef.org.uk