Heathrow’s third runway project now ‘impossible’, says IAG chief

The CE of Heathrow’s biggest airline customer said the GBP14b third runway project was now “impossible” due to Covid-19, as the airport got the go-ahead to appeal against a court ruling that blocked its expansion plans.  Willie Walsh, chief of BA parent company IAG, on Thursday said: “There isn’t going to be a third runway. It was a Herculean task before Covid and I think it’s impossible now in this environment.” While Walsh has in the past supported expansion at Heathrow, he has long been critical of the current scheme, saying he has no confidence in the airport’s management to deliver a new runway cost-effectively.  His comments come as Heathrow airport was on Thursday given the go-ahead by the Supreme Court to appeal against an earlier ruling that blocked its plans to build the third runway.  The runway plans were thrown into disarray earlier this year when the Court of Appeal concluded that the government had failed to assess the impact of the expansion on international climate change agreements. It ruled that the government’s aviation national policy statement was therefore unlawful. The government left it to Heathrow to make its own legal challenge. The UK’s highest court said it would hear an appeal on this issue but no date has been set for the hearing. <br/>