The boss of Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport, said that the government should “get on” with the airports’ expansion after it posted a significant increase in profits.
The airport reported a 6 percent increase in revenue of £1.3bn for the six months to June 30, while pre-tax profits increased from £23 million to £120 million.
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye told the BBC:
“We’re into a new phase now where the focus is on making this happen, in the interests of the country as quickly as possible,”
“This is now something that can be delivered and we need to get on with it as quickly as possible.”
The airport was named by a government-appointed commission as the preferred site for expansion.
John Holland-Kaye said that building a third runway would create almost 200,000 jobs and boost the British economy by £211 billion.
He called for “an early decision from government that allows us to move with confidence and line up the supply chain, do the right thing for communities and get on and deliver the huge benefits”.
Heathrow is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the busiest airport in Europe by passenger traffic.
Prime Minister David Cameron said that a decision will be made on whether a new runway should be built at Heathrow by the end of the year.
“Our focus now is on working closely with government to deliver the benefits of expansion for all of the UK as quickly as possible,” Holland-Kaye said in a statement.
The commission said that another viable option is to build a runway at Britain’s second largest airport, Gatwick.