Heathrow boss urges Parliament to settle the third runway question as investors warn they cannot wait forever
The airport says unions, airlines, regional airports and investors back its £33 billion expansion, and local polling finds 68 per cent support. Its chief executive gives evidence to MPs on Wednesday, with a decision on a formal planning application due in the new year.
Heathrow has moved to show Parliament that its long-debated third runway has support well beyond the airport itself, saying on Monday that its expansion plans have won the backing of trade unions, airlines, regional airports and investors.
The airport published polling of more than 9,000 residents across nine local boroughs which found that 68 per cent support the expansion, with backing driven by employment and economic opportunities. Heathrow says the project would unlock more than 100,000 jobs and £33 billion of private investment across the UK.
Its chief executive, Thomas Woldbye, is due to give evidence to the Transport Select Committee on Wednesday, 14 October, as MPs scrutinise the draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement. Heathrow West Limited and Heathrow Airport Limited are both scheduled to appear, with Woldbye and the airport's chief development officer, Helen Elsby, due to give evidence from 10.15am.
We are ready to deliver it.Thomas Woldbye, chief executive of Heathrow, statement reported by Reuters, 12 October 2026
The pressure is not only parliamentary. Woldbye told the Financial Times that the airport's shareholders, who include the Qatar Investment Authority, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and China Investment Corp, could reassess the £33 billion plans if the Prime Minister does not commit to the project, and that investors must decide in the new year whether to submit a formal planning application. “But of course we cannot wait forever,” he said.
Andy Burnham has so far declined to back Heathrow's plans. In September, Heathrow said the opening of a third runway could be delayed until 2039.
The immediate numbers cut both ways. Nearly 7.2 million passengers travelled through Heathrow in September, down 2.3 per cent from a year earlier, with the Middle East conflict contributing to a 20 per cent drop in traffic to that region. Heathrow's case is that the fall is cyclical while the constraint is structural: demand for access to the airport continues to exceed available capacity, with more than 40 airlines seeking slots.
Wednesday's hearing is therefore about more than a runway. It is the point at which a privately financed project that Heathrow says is ready to build meets a Parliament still weighing its economic, environmental and community costs, and a group of investors who have put a rough deadline on their patience.
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