At last, one great idea from the government............

[PAH]

I was saying years ago they should build a floating airport in the Thames estuary

Just weld together all the aircraft carriers they've decommissioned, or are building to be mothballed.

[OwlHoot]

I was saying years ago they should build a floating airport in the Thames estuary, with rail links to London through Southend on the north bank and via a similar location in Kent. But apparently the snag at present is that it would be too close to Holland, and the air traffic control would overlap. Can't see that would be a problem in the future though if it was all computerised anyway.

A way they could expand Heathrow without requiring any space is to vertically enclose all the nearby reservoirs, after perhaps resiting and reshaping them, and build the runways and terminals over these. An incidental benefit would be less evaporation and chance of contamination.

In fact just enclosing or "entunneling" a stretch of the M25 round West London would create a huge amount of space over it, albeit rather elongated; but then there's the security risk of truck bombs.

[Fred Bloggs]

I'd go one step further and merge RAF Northolt into Heathrow as well, that way we get the extra runway we really need. I agree that UK air taxes are killing off the UK airports slowly but surely, particularly for long haul routes where the tax is simply stupid. On flights I have taken the last year or two the taxes have been as much as 110% of the basic air fare. That cannot continue.

[Paddy]

Got an even better idea, fly to Amsterdam or Frankfurt and use the hub there.

[PAH]

If I was designing a solution it would be multi-segment aircraft split into cockpit, wing, tail, and passenger segments that are clicked together to build aircraft on demand.

You could then stay in your segment (divided by final destination) and get connected to a different aircraft for onward journeys.

They could then load segments onto trucks or trains for transferring to other airports if they don't want to fly them there. No need for security or rechecking in if the door seal isn't broken.

If they need more capacity plug in more passenger segments, allowing for planes of the right size for the journey and current demand.

I call it the LEtsGO Plane.

[To all of the internet: This idea is available for a suitable licencing fee if you wish to patent or implement it. ]

[Paddy]

Did you read the article? The idea is that the station at each end would be behind security lines therefore the transfer could be done with no customs/emigration/check-in/security. Obviously at the moment there aren't many transit passengers between airports, but if the transfer time was 15 mins instead of 90+ that would probably change quite quickly.

No I didn’t, do you expect me to post facts in General!

[Freamon]

It’s a tulip stupid idea!

The article states the idea did not come from the government, it came from the chamber of commerce. (Probably construction companies)

If a passenger transits at the same airport; the luggage is forwarded and they don’t go through customs and immigration.

I think it is a ridiculous idea as there are very few transit passengers between airports. If passengers do transfer between LHR and LGW, they have to clear customs and emigration and take their luggage with them and go through the whole check-in and security process again.

Did you read the article? The idea is that the station at each end would be behind security lines therefore the transfer could be done with no customs/emigration/check-in/security. Obviously at the moment there aren't many transit passengers between airports, but if the transfer time was 15 mins instead of 90+ that would probably change quite quickly.

[Freamon]

But will it ever get built? I seriously doubt it.

Similar ideas have been put forward before.

alwaystouchout.com - Airtrack

A direct line does sound better though. Maybe instead of trains they could use these things:

[MarillionFan]

Why do they need a train line between the two airports?

[scooterscot]

For that money they could build a monster airport on the Thames and reclaim the land from Heathrow and Gatwick.

[Paddy]

But will it ever get built? I seriously doubt it.

It’s a tulip stupid idea!

The article states the idea did not come from the government, it came from the chamber of commerce. (Probably construction companies)

If a passenger transits at the same airport; the luggage is forwarded and they don’t go through customs and immigration.

I think it is a ridiculous idea as there are very few transit passengers between airports. If passengers do transfer between LHR and LGW, they have to clear customs and emigration and take their luggage with them and go through the whole check-in and security process again.

If the government wants to encourage London airports to be international hubs, then they should abolish the departure tax.

At the moment, for long haul flights it is cheaper to fly to Europe and then on to the final destination because the European departure tax is cheaper.


BTW: Concdering the cost of the Heathrow Express, The Heathrow Gatwick would have to charge around £80 one way.

[Fred Bloggs]

But will it ever get built? I seriously doubt it.