Birmingham Airport boss reveals runway ‘plan B’
15.05.10
A ‘Cunning Plan B’ to build the runway extension at Birmingham International Airport for virtually half the published £120 million cost of the project has been drawn up, the Post reports. Airport chief executive Paul Kehoe said a new phased scheme would deliver 95 percent of the original anticipated capacity at a much lower cost.
The revised runway scheme is being mooted just six months after Mr Kehoe said the business case for a £120 million runway extension was ‘marginal at best’ and could rack up big cash losses. He told the newspaper: ‘We need to find 400 metres of concrete. The scheme costs £120 million but the company is struggling to find the cash to build that.'
‘We have a cunning plan, Plan B – we can build the runway in phases and, by losing 50 to 60 metres, we can build it at half the price. We would save half the costs and, when it is up and running, we can finish the job. It would be £65 million for phase one.’
He said the new phased plan was achievable by removing 50 metres of the project earmarked for a tunnel facility as part of an ‘overrun’ area, adding: ‘The Board has to make a decision from a financial point of view – we still have to move the A45. We have planning permission for seven years and we have to exercise that permission within seven years.'
‘We are now the only airport in the UK with significant planning permission. This puts us in a great position. We are only operating at 40 per cent of our capacity, with nine million passengers a year. All the ingredients are there so has Birmingham’s time come?’
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