The man behind an ambitious plan to break up Heathrow’s decades-long monopoly has partnered with the world’s number one airport to bolster its bid to win the much-coveted contract to build the hub’s third runway.
Surinder Arora, the hotel tycoon behind a rival expansion bid dubbed Heathrow West, has drafted in the help of experts from Singapore’s Changi Airport to ensure its proposal for the flagship expansion offers “the best passenger experience in the world”.
Changi Airport is widely regarded to be the best aviation hub in the world and, as well as boasting one of the cleanest operational track records, is home to a butterfly garden, swimming pool and 40m waterfall.
The Arora Group, whose portfolio of hotels includes several around Heathrow, confirmed it had joined forces with the Singaporean hub’s top brass as part of a wider announcement revealing the full proposal it shared with the Department for Transport in July.
The bid threw the race to deliver what is one of the government’s marquee infrastructure projects wide open and – if successful – would break Heathrow’s incumbent operator’s stranglehold on the hub’s day-to-day operations.
At the heart of Arora’s Heathrow West proposal – which as well as boasting input from Changi was cooked up in partnership with aviation heavyweights Bechtel – is a vow to build a shorter, 2,800m runway; a decision which it says will save billions of pounds by not having to reroute the M25 to accommodate a longer strip.
The rival proposal from Heathrow Airport Ltd – announced a day after Arora’s – included plans for a standard 3,500m runway, which Heathrow top brass said would boast a larger capacity and allow it to maximise the mega-project’s economic benefit.
Heathrow has ‘under-served’ passengers in the past
“For too long, the UK’s only hub airport has under-served our domestic passengers, business and international users,” said Carlton Brown, chief executive of Heathrow West.
“By working with proven global experts, Heathrow West can finally deliver the necessary improvements required to restore pride and unlock growth in this major piece of critical national infrastructure.”
As part of its proposal, Arora asked Changi to conduct a peer review of the Heathrow West proposal, which found the bid to be “time- and cost-effective, [the] least disruptive to the community and environmentally sustainable”.
A statement from the airport, which has topped Skytrax’s annual airport rankings twice in the last three years, added: “All in all, HWL’s proposed master plan balances DfT’s strategic objectives, while maintaining affordability and convenience for all airport users.”
The full proposal – published on Arora’s website on Tuesday – also contained an endorsement from Dublin Airport, where the group is currently building its first hotel outside the UK.