It's Heathrow or Gatwick as commission spikes estuary airport - but Mayor fights on

Two of the three shortlisted options are at Heathrow - an expansion the Mayor says is not politically possible

Two of the three shortlisted options are at Heathrow - an expansion the Mayor says is not politically possible

The Government's Airports Commission today announces that it will not add a proposal for a new airport on the Thames estuary to a shortlist of options for providing new airport capacity. 

Sir Howard Davies' commission reported that following detailed study into the feasibility of a new estuary airport, the option championed by the London Mayor, it had concluded that the proposal has "substantial disadvantages that collectively outweigh its potential benefits".

Sir Davies said: "While we recognise the need for a hub airport, we believe this should be part of an effective system of competing airports. There are also serious doubts about the delivery and operation of a very large hub airport in the estuary. The need for additional capacity is urgent. We need to focus on solutions which are deliverable and affordable."

The commission will now continue its appraisal of three shortlisted proposals for additional capacity, two at Heathrow, the other at Gatwick, and will publish this for public consultation in the autumn.

But the Mayor vowed to fight on, saying that "in one myopic stroke the Airports Commission has set the debate back by half a century... Gatwick is not a long-term solution and Howard Davies must explain to the people of London how we can possibly envisage that an expansion of Heathrow, which would create unbelievable levels of noise, blight and pollution, is a better idea than a new airport that he himself admits is visionary".

Johnson had been derided for backtracking on his plan to close Heathrow in his bid to become the MP for Uxbridge, where many constituents work at Heathrow.