Why London’s Broken Airport Is IMPOSSIBLE to Fix

While both Atlanta and Shanghai operate with five active runways, Heathrow has only two. And the problem is, for almost two decades, those two runways have been operating at full capacity, leaving virtually no room to handle delays, bad weather, or growing passenger demand. As more people pass through Heathrow than ever before, the airport is inching dangerously close to its breaking point. And if it fails to keep up, there is a real risk of losing the Crown as Europe's busiest airport within a decade, with serious consequences for the entire British economy. And it is not as though Heathrow does not want to expand. In fact, the plan for a third runway was first proposed back in 2003. But for the past twenty years, the project has been mired in controversy over environmental concerns, political fistfights, and fierce opposition from surrounding communities whose villages would be wiped off the map entirely.

When the project finally received formal approval last year, the Mayor of London threatened to take the government to court. And even if that hurdle is cleared, the engineering reality is daunting. Building a new runway in the middle of a live, operating airport, hemmed in by one of Europe's busiest motorways, will be one of the most complex construction challenges in British history. So with Britain's aviation future hanging in the balance, will this runway ever be built? And more importantly, can this $65 billion dollar gamble save the UK from an aviation crisis it has spent twenty years creating?