Heathrow Third Runway Could Cost Britain Up to £62.5bn, Data Shows
Government transport figures reveal the proposed third runway carries massive net costs, contradicting ministers' growth claims.
The UK government's own Department for Transport has calculated that building a third runway at Heathrow Airport would cost Britain between £23.4bn and £62.5bn, figures that sharply contradict decades of ministerial arguments that airport expansion is indispensable to economic growth.
Former chancellor Rachel Reeves had asserted that the third runway would add 0.43% to GDP, a figure later traced to a report commissioned by the airport itself. The Department for Transport's independent analysis arrived at a far more modest estimate: a GDP boost of between 0.03% and 0.05%, roughly eight to fourteen times smaller than the airport-backed projection.
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When social and environmental costs are weighed against those limited economic gains, the department's own assessment concludes the project would produce a significant net loss for the country. The analysis found the expanded airport would cause measurable harm to the health and wellbeing of up to three million people living near Heathrow, compounding the financial burden with wide-scale public health consequences.
Critics argue the figures expose a fundamental mismatch between the political case made for runway expansion and the evidence underpinning government transport policy. The gap between the airport-commissioned GDP estimate and the department's internal numbers has intensified calls for Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and other regional leaders to oppose the project.
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