Heathrow plans to 'turn electric'

The commitment to increasing electric vehicle use at the airport is one of many made by Heathrow Airport in documents published last year which set out a series of action plans and milestones for how the airport will reduce noise, emissions and traffic. The overall goal is to ‘make Heathrow the most environmentally responsible hub airport’.

One of Heathrow's electric vehicles Chief Executive, John Holland-Kaye said: “2015 saw us commit to a series of action plans that will make us a better neighbour, by reducing noise, emissions and traffic. Today we are providing an update on the very significant progress already being made, thanks to the commitment of the airport community. But we know that we need to do more, and in the coming months will set out even more ambitious plans that will make an expanded Heathrow the most environmentally responsible hub airport in the world.” An evaluation of the documents show that 70% of the promises have been put into action, with the remaining 30% in progress. None are yet to start. Initiatives to reduce noise include the retrofitting of low-noise technology onto a large proportion of Airbus A320 aircraft over the next 18 months, and penalties on airlines using older, noisier aircraft. In fact, Heathrow is on track to become the first large European airport to be free of the oldest and noisiest classification of aircraft – known as ‘Chapter 3’.

• To reduce emissions, environmental landing charges for airlines will double from January 2017, providing another incentive for airlines to use cleaner aircraft. In a bid to reduce traffic at the airport, a new App which provides real-time public transport and traffic information for passengers travelling on from Heathrow will be launched in 2016.