The problem of a dominant city

Well, in the end, it took just four years for Munich Airport to secure the green light for a third runway, compared with decades of anguished debate over the same issue at London Heathrow.

Germany’s second-largest airport has now received federal court approval for the project  which had been challenged by an environmental group.

And while in the UK and the basket case of a commission says yes to runway three at Heathrow, only the most flamboyant of gamblers would place money on it being built any time soon, like in the next 20 years.  It is just not politically feasible.

There are two interesting contrasts between Munich and Heathrow.  First, Germany has much stricter planning and environmental laws than the UK.  And second, the German economy doesn’t ride on the back of a single city.

But there is a third reason which need you only to glance at maps of the two airports to see why development has proceeded so differently: Munich’s purpose-built hub sits in green fields outside city limits, whereas Heathrow – built in the 1920s as an aerodrome for testing – is walled in by the housing estates and motorways of greater London. 

The sight of an almost crippled Airbus with its engine doors waving in the wind flying in over the west end of London last year should make anyone think twice about expanding an already dodgy site.