Slow progress on Heathrow’s third runway should be national concern, boss says

Heathrow has reported falling profits and a squeeze on passenger growth, as its boss said that slow progress on its “underestimated” £33bn third runway scheme should be a national concern.Thomas Woldbye, the chief executive of Heathrow Airport, said major decisions on its funding model and the legal underpinning for expansion needed to be taken by regulators and government this year if the airport was to meet the timetable set down by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, for construction to start by 2029.Heathrow expansion meant building “almost a whole new airport” in west London, he said, with a total £49bn being spent on adding and renovating terminals as well as the runway.About 276,000 more flights a year could come with a new runway, expected by 2035 at the earliest.“I think sometimes people underestimate what we’re doing here. We would like to be transparent,” said Woldbye.“In terms of its physical impact it’s no different from what we’ve asked for 15 years.”Woldbye said of the current restart of the project since Labour came to power: “Given the need for a third runway, we would have liked to see it progress faster on some decision points. The chancellor has set deadlines we want to meet [but] the planning process is not the most straightforward.”He added: “If we are to write a cheque for £33bn we would want some safeguards.”In a statement, Heathrow said that “to ensure it is fully privately financed, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) must put in place the framework that gives investors confidence.”The landing charges that airlines pay to Heathrow are fixed by the CAA on a five-year basis, and airlines fear they could increase significantly to fund a third runway. But Woldbye said the airport was not seeking “wholesale change to the regime”.A review of the Airports National Policy Statement, which gives legislative backing to the third runway, is also under way.Woldbye said: “If we are going to meet the deadlines those decisions need to be taken this year.”Passenger numbers would continue to grow by only “a relatively small amount because we are running out of space … that should be a concern for the country, limiting our growth,” he added.Heathrow pre-tax profits, meanwhile, fell by more than a third to £575m for 2025, from £917m in 2024, partly due to lower landing charges and also to higher maintenance costs, as passenger numbers reached a record 84.5 million.The airport paid £550m dividends to shareholders, who consist mainly of overseas investors led by private equity firm Ardian and the sovereign wealth funds of Qatar and Saudi Arabia.Woldbye said that after a five-year pause “we felt with a really strong performance in 2025 and some cash generation it was the time to look to the shareholders”.Anti-expansion campaigners pointed to Heathrow’s growing debt pile, which is approaching £19bn. Heathrow said that it was not a barrier to a new runway. However, Paul McGuinness, the chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said it raised questions over financing.“A government which supports the project will be committing the taxpayer to bailing it out – if it’s ever to be more than an unfinished hole in the ground,” McGuinness warned.