| Luton airport plans major expansion, to build new runway |
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LONDON: Luton airport in Bedfordshire is building a new runway and terminal with the 2012 Olympics in mind. Once completed, it may become Britain's second-biggest airport.
The 1.5-billion-pound plan, announced Tuesday, targets a passenger volume of 30 million a year and 600 flights a day by 2020. The proposed runway will be constructed on a farmland, situated south of the existing runway.
The company that owns the airport, Spanish road toll operation Abertis, is expected to submit a detailed plan and application to the government sometime next year.
According to the proposals, the new runway will be 3,000 metres long and capable of handling Boeing 747 jumbo jets. The proposed new terminal would be located between the two runways and can control take-offs and landings from both the runways simultaneously. However, the airport's managing director Kathryn James said the plan is to move all the flights to the new runway and use the existing one for emergencies.
She said only some 15 homes located in the plot of land would have to be demolished to construct the new runway.
Luton is planning to open its new runway by the end of 2011, at least two years before the airport at Stansted could open its second runway and five years before Heathrow could open its third. Both Luton and Stansted mostly cater to the budget airlines.
The plan for Luton includes construction of a two-mile monorail linking the terminals with Luton Airport Parkway train station.
People staying near the airport have said they are worried about the expansion plan, and are readying for protests. Environmentalists are also opposed to the plan, which they say will create more and more cheap air travel, which is a serious threat to the global climate.
Posted
on : Thu, 27 Oct 2005 09:25 GMT | General News
By : Pippa Fielding
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