Heathrow’s largest shareholder-to-be has weighed in with backing behind expansion plans, including for a third runway, at the UK’s largest airport.
Ardian, which in June agreed to buy a 23% stake in the airport, signalled the the Financial Times that Heathrow had to grow in the coming years.
“We don’t invest in companies or in infrastructure if they don’t have a growth plan,” the French private equity group’s infrastructure head, Mathias Burghardt, said.
“The first thing is to grow the airport within the existing footprint, and then [...] how can we ensure growth beyond the existing footprint?”
Ardian’s buy-in, agreed under a £3.3 billion shake-up of the airport’s ownership, is expected to be completed by the end of December.
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund also bought a stake at the time, as anticipation grew for a new expansion plan from Heathrow boss Thomas Woldbye in the coming months.
This is set to prioritise a string of small-scale improvements to increase capacity, but follows decades of debate over a third runway being built at the airport.
Burghardt said he would back plans for another landing strip if there was “consensus” from the likes of the government.
“If management designs growth, which could be a third runway [...] we certainly will support it for sure,” he said.