Delay for second runway at Stansted Airport

AIRPORT owners BAA have said that the opening of a second runway at Stansted, if granted permission, would be delayed by two years.BAA had expected the runway to open in 2015 but said a fall in passenger numbers and new calculated forecasts showed it wou

AIRPORT owners BAA have said that the opening of a second runway at Stansted, if granted permission, would be delayed by two years.

BAA had expected the runway to open in 2015 but said a fall in passenger numbers and new calculated forecasts showed it would now not be necessary until 2017.

The company had expected its current runway permission of 35 million passengers a year to be reached sooner.

However, it stressed the long-term expansion of the airport would continue and air travel would increase as anticipated by government.

Campaign group Stop Stansted Expansion said the latest delay was just another excuse and called on BAA to abandon the project.

SSE economics adviser, Brian Ross, said: "It is wholly unacceptable for BAA to try to keep its options open by continuing to postpone the threat of a second runway. It should remove the threat once and for all.