Ready for takeoff: Minister welcomes Heathrow third runway

Tuesday 25 October 2016

Jersey’s Tourism Minister has cautiously welcomed plans to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport

Senator Lyndon Farnham says the increased capacity it’ll allow the UK airport to handle could be good news for the Island.

He says both easyJet and Flybe are keen to operate flights to and from Jersey, although he stresses nothing is going to happen overnight.

The plans have split UK government ministers and many say they’ll continue to fight the scheme. It’s likely there’ll be a period of public consultation, and it won’t be until the winter of 2017-18 that ministers will vote on the decision. Construction won’t start until 2020 or 2021, with the work taking about four years.

“What’s important for Jersey”, says Senator Farnham “is that potentially it  means more people will be able to fly to the Island, and it will serve a slightly different market than Gatwick.”

But, he stresses, any new routes have to be sustainable. “I wouldn’t want to see it threaten existing routes”.