New Runways & Extensions in Heathrow and Gatwick are mid term solutions, at the end of the day, if you want to keep up with Far and Middle East aviation hubs, a brand new airport with perhaps 6 parallel runways in the Thames Estuary connected to Cross rail is the only way to go. Londoners can have democratic referendum etc; this is still the hard reality. By average, we spend 20 minutes in holding pattern even if you add runways in these existing airports, the waste of fuel and time is also immense.

Rebrand London HR will as a secondary albeit luxury hub, for example Switzerland Zurich airport has accepted they will never be as big as Schiphol, they just concentrated in making it impeccable, uber efficient and beautiful, for the select and the privileged. Good alternative to enter a city or EU, lower landing fees, no lines, Zen like experience, top quality retail etc. Ask Tyler Brule of FT. . . Fast lane writer. . . These guys know airports, from branding and experience point of view.

Then again Thames estuary proposal is a realists view 30 years ahead. . . this incremental, efficiency and compactness in international aviation hub approach are not enough for newer planes like A380 will be bigger replacements as well faster ones like Concord which can travel to NYC or Tokyo in 1-2 hrs. and cruise at outer space. . . the norm by then.

Come to think of it the world is pretty big. . . 80% is still wide blue ocean. . . keep it open to develop the Thames Estuary proposal, as others are actually implementing this brave new approach. . . now . . .

In the end, we can’t afford to simply measure incremental cost or benefit of free-standing infrastructure.

In the case of airports – like any infrastructure asset class – it’s no longer about evaluating the impacts of a utility at the periphery of the city; we have to see how the system performs as a whole. The discussion has to be about how the airport and the closely-related urban hinterland create value for the greatest number of people.