LONDON: Britain yesterday gave Heathrow Airport the green light to build a new $22 billion runway, ending 25 years of indecision and vowing to boost global trade links following the vote to leave the European Union.
Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, had been battling with its smaller rival Gatwick for the right to expand, after successive governments failed to decide where to build the first new runway around London in 70 years.
"After decades of delay we are showing that we will take the big decisions when they're the right decisions for Britain," Prime Minister Theresa May told London's Evening Standard newspaper. "Airport expansion is vital for the economic future of the whole of the UK."
The project, one of the biggest infrastructure programmes in Europe at £18 billion, is now likely to face legal challenges and a final vote by lawmakers in a year's time, meaning the runway can only open by 2025 at the earliest.
May's decision is one of her most significant since she took office in July and puts her in conflict with some senior ministers who oppose expansion over densely populated west London.
Heathrow is set to lose its ranking as Europe's biggest hub airport to Paris' Charles de Gaulle by 2020. With only two runways Heathrow is limited to 480,000 flights a year compared with the potential for more than 600,000 flights offered by rival European airports with more runways.
According to a three-year study by Britain's independent Airports Commission, a new runway at Heathrow would create 70,000 new jobs by 2050 and increase gross domestic product by between 0.65 and 0.75% over the same period.