My 2nd yr's project on the possibility of constructing London's new airport in the Thames Estuary. Outlines the historical aspects of building a floating airport as well as touches upon feasibility of such undertaking in the London area.

2. Heathrow Hell – Or Why It Is Not Willie Walsh’s Fault

3. Made in Japan – Off-shore Airports

4. Megafloat – Floating Airport

5. Thames Estuary Enterprise – Never-ending Story

6. Historical perspective

7. Project development

8. Economic feasibility

9. Socio-political constraints

10. Environmental issues

11. Day-dreamers or Realists – Thames Estuary Project’s Viability

12. Bibliography

14. Software – the informational and communicational side, network connecting potential – advanced facilities to support all forms of traffic to and out of the airport, i.e. wind shear detection systems, route-guidance system for road traffic.

15. Orgware – the organizational and regulatory side provided to enhance the passenger experience – may be divided into supply and demand, i.e. formulation and execution of clear goals in the construction phase, airport’s ability to attract customers (airlines) without harming its competitive position.

16. Finware – the financial side – particularly high cost and long lead time in obtaining revenue; it is mandatory to adequate levels of capital and avoid attracting new customers to the airport by lowering airport charges.

18. Figure SEQ Figure ARABIC 3: Megafloat - conceptual drawing.Source: OkamuraFigure SEQ Figure ARABIC 4: Megafloat project schedule.Source: Suzuki (2004)27432004435475Given the high costs and long lead time of the off-shore airport construction, some projects have been turned down in the middle- to short-term (i.e. Amsterdam, Tel Aviv). With a prospect that in long term such a choice could be feasible, the Japanese attempted to meet the demand. Megafloat, as the structure was named, is a very large floating surface moored to the seabed. Its advantages are numerous, including the easiness of artificial land development even in deep waters or on a soft seabed, its ability to isolate earthquake motion and relative environmental and ecological friendliness. The world’s first full-scale field trials of a large floating structure commenced in Japan in 1995 and were coordinated by the Technological Research Association of Megafloat. Although successful, the program was abandoned in 2000 due to the economic downturn. As showed by Mr Suzuki (University of Tokyo, Department of Environmental and Ocean Engineering), all the technical, environmental and regulatory issues have been overcome in the course of the experiment. In 2005, Japan and the US announced a new airport to be built making use of the Megafloat experience. Although it was never to be accomplished, the Megafloat might yet be to make the history as the available technology gains on quality and sophistication.

19. THAMES ESTUARY ENTERPRISE – NEVER-ENDING STORY

20. Historical perspective

21. The idea of a new London airport surfaced in the late 1960s, when Roskill Commission was appointed with an aim to examine various possibilities of airport infrastructure development in the South-East. The project assumed that a man-made island in the vicinity of the town of Maplin be built and the airport constructed. However, the Commission voted against and Stansted Airport’s development was agreed upon instead. As the air traffic grew over the years, the proposal kept bouncing back to the infrastructure planners. At least three reasonable proposals were made during past thirty years and a web-engine search returns dozens of web pages of companies whose main activity is to develop and promote the off-shore airport infrastructure to be located on a man-made island in the Estuary. Moreover, as the problems at Heathrow escalate, similar concepts are increasingly being recalled as the sole solution; even more so given their Far East success.

22. Project development

24. Economic feasibility

26. While the opposition to the development of Heathrow is strong, many seem not to realize what the consequences of its close-down would be. The London’s main airport would migrate from the west to the east and major changes in employment structure would be required. Eventually, some might (too lately) acknowledge the benefits of having a large hub around the corner. For the new airport, the social impacts would be relatively low given its location.

27. In political terms, an off-shore airport still belongs to the long-term future, because of the investment and process sophistication involved. Lack of support on the City’s behalf also contributes to a general conviction that development of current assets rather than novel facilities is the right choice.

28. Environmental issues

29. Although it is widely recognized that the airport would meet all current norms required for developments of this kind, there is an important concern about the facility’s impact upon the environment. Some (i.e. contribution to global warming, noise pollution) would be only relocated to the east; other are project- and location-specific (i.e. impact on marine and terrestrial ecosystems, on tidal flows). The sole fact that the Estuary is home to large numbers of birds means not only that there is a fierce opposition of environmental activists, but also that a significant possibility of bird hazard occurs. Decided means needed to be undertaken to alleviate the airport’s influence on its intermediate environment.

30. DAY-DREAMERS OR REALISTS – THAMES ESTUARY PROJECT’S VIABILITY

31. Rotary floating airport conceptualization1914525408305As stated earlier, the technology to accomplish the project already exists. One could venture into even more sophisticated concepts – a logistic node comprised of a port, seaplane base and an airport with state-of-the-art surface transport links (both by rail and road); a floating airport capable of rotating around its vertical axis in order to align its runways with the prevailing winds; or an off-shore facility located away enough from the coast so as to avoid any negative impacts on coastal ecosystems and connected to London by means of tunnel-based four-track very high speed rail – all this could be dreamt of.

32. The reality is somewhat more prosaic and little more than goodwill is showed in the case of Thames Estuary Project. Surely, the surest option is to be followed – further expansion of existing airport, with an additional runway at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. However, the goal should be not only to increase the capacity but also to improve the passenger experience and make the air travel a more seamless experience.

33. BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY Airbus Global Market Forecast 2006-26. (2008). Retrieved March 27, 2008, from Airbus Industrie: http://www.airbus.com/store/mm_repository/pdf/att00011423/media_object_file_GMF_2007.pdfHalcrow Group Ltd. (2003). DfT. Retrieved March 13, 2008, from Department for Transport: http://www.dft.gov.uk/results?view=Filter&t=Thames+Estuary&pg=1Gordon, A. (2004). Naked Airport. New York: Metropolitan Books.n/a. (n/a). Floating Airport, Patent 5398635. Retrieved March 12, 2008, from http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5398635.htmlNijkamp, P., & Yim, H. (2001). Critical success factors for offshore airports - a comparative evaluation. Air Transport Management , 181-188.Okamura, H. (2004). Retrieved March 14, 2008, from Realizing the world's first floating airport.