LSBM435 Research MethodsLevel 6

MAIN BODY

Heathrow Airport is one of the major and busiest international airports in London, United Kingdom. It is the most engaged airport in Europe by passenger traffic and second busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic. According to Griggs and Howarth, (2018) in September 2012, establishment of Airport Commission by government of United Kingdom was made in order to investigate and generate ways through which increasing capacity at the airport can be managed. In July 2015, the commission comes with a solution to construct third runway at Heathrow and solutions got sanctioned by government in October 2016.

Wolfe, Kramer and Barrett, (2017) elucidated that Heathrow airport handled a record of 78 million passengers in 2017. Number of passengers keep on increasing year by year which makes it difficult for the management of Heathrow airport to manage them efficiently. Thus, Airports commission, Heathrow Hub and Heathrow Airport Holdings have formulated several proposals generating ample of solutions in order to enhance the capacity management of Heathrow Airport. Mousavi and Naji, (2017) elaborated that in December 2006, Department of Transport, United Kingdom had published a report on progress on the strategy which confirmed original vision of expanding runways. In January 2009, Geoff Hoon, the Transport Secretary has announced that government of United Kingdom has supported expansion of Heathrow by developing third runway (Griggs and Howarth, 2017). 

Development of third runway will help management and government to manage the increasing capacity of passengers as well as flights. There are numerous disadvantages which are associated with the developmental phase of third runway. According to Pidgeon (2016) if the third runway is developed then the citizens of Heathrow have to face with excessive air pollution, noise pollution and have to pay more corporations taxes. With the development of the third runway, more flights will begin to take off and land which eventually put impact on the air pollution. Air pollution is responsible for increasing chronic diseases related with lungs and respiratory systems due to which many people lost their lives in the United Kingdom (Littlechild, 2018).

Expansion of Heathrow increases the amount of flight activities and will further increase level of noise pollution in Heathrow. As airport is located near residential area, the locals will always remain frustrated and exasperated with excessive noises of turbines and planes (Masiol, Harrison and Beddows, 2017). Eventually, the management of Heathrow airport needs to start paying more corporation tax. According to Littlechild, (2018) one always does not look up on the issues and limitations. There are ample of benefits which establishment of third runway and expansion of airport would possibly give to the citizens as well as management of Heathrow.

Owners and government anticipated that expansion of airport will aid in creating more than 180000 jobs. It will further aid in contributing towards the growth and development by bringing an estimated economic benefit of 211 billion pound. Budd and Ison, (2018) said that in order to overcome  challenges, management of Heathrow airport and government together devise strategies and implement them in order to maintain the legal carbon dioxide levels and reduction in noise pollutions. There was the referendum on 23^rd June 2016 regarding Britain exit from European Union that greatly impacted economy of United Kingdom (Griggs and Howarth, 2017). It cannot be denied that with impending exit from European Union, Britain has become highly reliant on Heathrow which is the main air cargo importer (Masiol, Harrison and Beddows, 2017). Thus, the expansion of Heathrow airport will help government and national economy to flourish by increasing revenues through enlarging passenger’s capacity.

Thornton, (2017) argued that environmental groups are not happy with the decision of expansion of Heathrow Airports. They anticipated that government and management become irresponsible towards the protection of environment and air pollution will cross its limits in United Kingdom. Furthermore, the expansion budget estimated was in between £17 to £22 billion and is slated to be completed by 2025 (Littlechild, 2018). It could face numerous legal challenges from community organisations, local councils and environmental groups. Number of flights will increase from 480000 to 740000 which is presumed by environmentalists and could possibly become threat to the environment (Hoover, 2016).

According to Bertola, Garvey and Morvan, (2017) social and community organisations as well as hoteliers whose properties will be demolished due to expansion also create legal obstructions for the management of Heathrow. Furthermore, to accommodate enlarged air traffic, other sectors have to reduce the emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 which could hamper the growth and development of businesses (Hoover, 2016). McDonough, (2017) said that due to increase in passengers and BREXIT, Heathrow airport becomes an important and essential source through which government can earn ample amount of revenue. There are some limitations and challenges which can drag the progress in expansion but it can provide ample of benefits to locals, communities, business organisations and government in many ways (Masiol, Harrison and Beddows, 2017). Thus, the development of third runway at Heathrow Airport is essential and important.

CONCLUSION

In the above literature review, researcher has analysed different articles and journals which shed light on Heathrow Airport, benefits of development of third runway and challenges that authorities can face. It has also been analysed that whether the third runway is essential or not for Heathrow. Further, it can be concluded that development of third runway at Heathrow airport is essential for boosting its capacity and improving the national economy of United Kingdom.

REFERENCES

• Bertola, L., Garvey, S.D. and Morvan, H., 2017. Reducing weight and fuel consumption of civil aircraft by electromagnetic launch.
• Budd, L. and Ison, S., 2018. The airport industry. The Routledge Companion to Air Transport Management, p.48.
• Griggs, S. and Howarth, D., 2017. Discourse, policy and the environment: hegemony, statements and the analysis of UK airport expansion. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, pp.1-15.
• Griggs, S. and Howarth, D., 2018. The Airports Commission, Depoliticisation and the Third Runway at Heathrow Airport. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Littlechild, S., 2018. Economic regulation of privatised airports: Some lessons from UK experience. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice.
• Masiol, M., Harrison, R.M. and Beddows, D.C., 2017. Sources of sub-micrometre particles near a major international airport. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 17(20), p.12379.
• McDonough, E., 2017. Flight paths as layers of the urban fabric: transport flows, connectivity and the contested urbanisation of airspace above London and the South East. Géocarrefour, 91(91/2).
• Mousavi, A. and Naji, A.R., 2017. Application of Discrete Event Simulation in Measuring Pollutant Emissions: A case study for London Heathrow (LHR). Yayınlanmamış makale taslağı.
• Thornton, J., 2017. Significant UK Environmental Law Cases 2016/17. Journal of Environmental Law, 29(2), pp.367-382.
• Wolfe, P.J., Kramer, J.L. and Barrett, S.R., 2017. Current and future noise impacts of the UK hub airport. Journal of Air Transport Management, 58, pp.91-99.

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