London mayor fights on in the media after his airport plans are rejected

The decision by the Government’s Airports Commission to dismiss the ‘Boris Island’ option from its shortlist led to a sometimes extremely heated debate about the future of aviation in the South East. Rik Thomas reports

05 September 2014

On 3 September The Times devoted a front page story, an editorial and a rather poignant cartoon to the decision by the Airports Commission to abandon consideration of the Boris Island hub airport proposals

A WAR of words broke out in the media after the Government’s Airports Commission formally rejected plans for a new hub airport in the Thames Estuary, dubbed ‘Boris Island’, earlier this week (see page 7). Writing in The Daily Telegraph the day before the announcement was made, London mayor Boris Johnson was working on the assumption that the commission’s rejection of his plans for a brand new airport means that it is highly likely to recommend the expansion of Heathrow...