Devsecops Engineer Lead

Sadiq Khan slams Heathrow runway plan after noise reduction spending cut. The airport's proposed spending on noise reduction has been severly cut from £241 million to just £52 million News Briefings Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice. London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has slammed Heathrow Airport after proposed spending on "noise reduction" was drastically cut. Around 6,500 local homes could be affected by the noise from additional flights if and when a third runway at Heathrow becomes operational. The airport had proposed spending £241 million on double glazing, loft insulation and erecting walls - but this has been severely cut to just £52 million. Sir Sadiq also warned that the number of night flights will double if the third runway gets the go-ahead. Heathrow airport The disclosures are contained in over 70 pieces of written evidence to the House of Commons transport select committee on the proposed expansion. Airport chiefs have blamed the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for being forced to cut the noise insulation budget, while insisting that a ban on night flights would be "enhanced" rather than diluted. Heathrow also promised to implement the noise reduction measures for local residents over the next 20 years - but a submission by local forum the Strategic Aviation Special Interest Group has warned that local residents could wait a century for noise protection. Others argued that shareholders, such as sovereign wealth funds Qatar Investment Authority and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, could fund the project without CAA approval. Paul Beckford, policy director at Hacan, a campaign body for residents near Heathrow, said: "There is a strong argument that... a good corporate neighbour would just use shareholder money to invest in [it]." Regarding night flights, the draft expansion policy statement suggested a six-and-a-half hour ban within the hours of 11pm and 7am. Airlines already operate under voluntary agreements that mean flights are rare between these hours. London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan Greater London Authority/Caroline Teo Sir Sadiq said that a loophole in the proposed night flight ban would be put in place for the third runway to operate. He argued that formalising the ban risks flights being rescheduled to the hours immediately before or after the ban, meaning airlines could compress their schedules, doubling night flights by packing them into either the early morning or late night windows. Local residents groups also voiced their concerns, with local charity the Putney Society arguing that the great majority of people need more than six and a half hours sleep a night." A Heathrow spokesperson said: "We have proposed enhancements to our night flight ban, already the strictest in Europe." The CAA said: "The consultation on Heathrow's pricing arrangements proposed broadly retaining existing levels of noise insulation expenditure." The news comes after all roads to Heathrow Airport's Terminals 2 and 3 reopened following a burst water main, which caused hours of disruption on Saturday. A leak beneath the airport's Inner Ring Road West disrupted access to the terminals. MORE ABOUT

Heathrow roads reopen after burst water main strands T2 and T3 passengers. A pipe beneath Inner Ring Road West flooded the central terminal area on the busiest summer Saturday. Published: Aug 15 2026, 9:47 AM EDT Roads serving Heathrow Terminals 2 and 3 have reopened after a burst water main beneath Inner Ring Road West flooded the airport's central terminal area on Saturday morning, leaving passengers without road access to two of Europe's busiest long-haul terminals during peak UK summer holiday season. This is the third time a water infrastructure failure has disrupted passenger access at Heathrow in 2026 - and the second incident to directly strike the central terminal area's road and pipe network. According to Heathrow Airport's official passenger updates page, all roads are now clear and the airport is operating normally, though travelers heading to the airport should allow extra time in case of residual congestion on approach roads. Flights were not cancelled in significant numbers. According to WhichTerminal's flight tracking, 1,305 flights were scheduled at Heathrow on Saturday, with 134 running more than 15 minutes late and only 3 cancelled as of tracking time - an average delay of roughly 30 minutes across affected services. The risk for passengers was never cancellation; it was arriving at a closed road when the gate clock was running. What caused the flooding and why did roads close? A burst in a water main running beneath Inner Ring Road West - one of the key internal ring roads within the airport's central terminal area - caused flooding severe enough to block all vehicular access to Terminals 2 and 3, according to the Press Association. The central terminal area (CTA) is the cluster of roads, buildings, and infrastructure connecting those two terminals; a pipe failure beneath one of its ring roads effectively cuts off cars, taxis, and private hire vehicles from both terminal approaches simultaneously. Heathrow's teams isolated the leak during the morning, and the airport confirmed on its official passenger updates page that "all roads have now reopened and the airport continues to operate as normal." The airport apologized for the disruption and thanked passengers who followed its advisories while repairs were carried out. No flooding was reported inside either terminal building, and the incident was entirely a landside rather than airside event - runways and gates operated throughout. Which Airlines fly from Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 at Heathrow? The road closure affected every passenger flying to or from Terminal 2 or Terminal 3 who planned to arrive by car, taxi, or private hire. Those two terminals together account for the large majority of Heathrow's non-British Airways international traffic. Terminal 2, Heathrow's Star Alliance hub, handles flights for Lufthansa, United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Air Canada, SWISS, Aer Lingus, TAP Air Portugal, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Icelandair, Air India, Ethiopian Airlines, and LOT Polish Airlines, among others. Heathrow's Terminal 3 airline guide covers the primary home for oneworld and unaligned long-haul carriers at Heathrow, including Virgin Atlantic, Emirates, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines, and Qantas, among others. Passengers flying with Air France, KLM, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, Turkish Airlines, or TUI Airways use Terminal 4. British Airways passengers use Terminal 5. Neither terminal was affected by Saturday's road closures, though Heathrow cautioned that perimeter road congestion could affect approach times to those terminals as well. The disruption fell on a Saturday during the UK school summer holidays - historically one of Heathrow's busiest periods. According to Heathrow, July 19, 2026 was the airport's single busiest day of the year so far, with 267,000 passengers processed. How to reach Terminals 2 and 3 without driving. During the closure, Heathrow directed all passengers at Terminals 2 and 3 to one of three rail routes, all of which remained fully operational throughout the incident. The Elizabeth line is the cheapest option, running from central London and Paddington through to the Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 station, and accepts contactless payment and Oyster cards - details on the Heathrow rail and tube routes page. The Heathrow Express runs from Paddington station in approximately 15 minutes - considerably faster than the Elizabeth line - though it costs significantly more unless booked in advance, with Heathrow Express advance fares starting from £10 when booked at least 30 days ahead. The Piccadilly line is the slowest of the three but connects to the widest spread of London, and is covered by a standard Heathrow Tube fare. All three services deposit passengers directly underneath the central terminal area, with covered walkways up into both Terminal 2 and Terminal 3. For passengers who could not avoid driving, Heathrow offered a workaround: park at Terminal 4 or Terminal 5 and use the free inter-terminal rail transfer to reach the central terminal area. That transfer between all Heathrow terminals carries no charge and takes only a few minutes. What happens if you miss your flight due to road closures. Passengers who drove to the airport after Heathrow's advisory explicitly warned against road travel - and then missed a flight that operated as scheduled - are not entitled to compensation or free rebooking under UK air passenger rights law. Compensation rules under the UK's retained version of EU Regulation 261/2004 cover delays and cancellations caused by the airline itself; they do not extend to passengers who fail to reach the gate. The practical risk is asymmetric: if your flight departed on time and you missed it while stuck in road traffic, the airline owes you nothing under UK law. Most carriers operate discretionary missed-departure rebooking policies, but the fees on long-haul tickets can be substantial, and the rebooking offer is at the airline's discretion, not a guaranteed right. Travel insurance may offer more protection. Many travel policies include a missed departure clause covering situations where infrastructure failure causes a passenger to miss a flight, provided the traveler allowed a "reasonable" amount of time for the journey. Heathrow's official advisory - "passengers travelling to or from either of these terminals today must not travel by road" - constitutes documented official guidance, which could support a travel insurance claim. Anyone affected should keep a copy of that advisory alongside any communications with their airline. Passengers whose flights were themselves delayed or cancelled, rather than those who failed to reach the airport, have the standard rights under UK261 and should pursue claims directly with their carrier. Why Heathrow keeps losing access to its own central terminal. Today's burst water main is not an isolated event at Heathrow. On May 30, 2026, a separate burst water main near Terminals 2 and 3 flooded the rail infrastructure severely enough to knock out signalling - suspending both Elizabeth line and Heathrow Express for several hours at a time when the Piccadilly line was already shut for scheduled engineering work, leaving the two busiest terminals with no reliable rail access either. Then, on August 10 and 11, a water leak in the tunnel running between Hayes and Harlington station and Terminals 4 and 5 forced rail services onto a single track for two consecutive days before being cleared. Saturday's incident is the third in approximately 11 weeks, and the second to directly strike the central terminal area's road and pipe network. The pattern distinguishes Saturday's event from an ordinary infrastructure failure: it is evidence of recurring pressure on water infrastructure beneath one of the world's busiest airports, at an institution that processes approximately 84 million passengers per year and is simultaneously planning significant expansion. Neither Heathrow nor the relevant utility operator had issued a public statement addressing the pattern of failures as of publication. For passengers with flights today, roads are open and the airport is operating as normal. Anyone who has not yet left for the airport should monitor Heathrow's official passenger updates page and check live flight status directly with their airline before departing. Join the Discussion