…But Airport Expansion Isn’t Easy…

Of course, airport expansion is usually a ticklish subject between airports, local governments and the neighbors. At Bob Hope Airport, in Burbank, Calif., the airport authority and the city are so tired of spending money on lawyers ($25 million in total) over expansion issues, they’ve called a truce of sorts. The airport has agreed to halt any expansion plans for seven years (even though more gates are badly needed to meet demand) and the city will allow it to hang on to land the airport hopes will be the site of a new terminal in 10 years. These types of fights aren’t unique to the U.S. In southern England, well-known cleric Terry Waite is doing his best to stand in the way of expansion of Stansted Airport. Waite, best known as the emissary from the Church of England who was held hostage in Lebanon for five years, doesn’t even live near the site of the proposed new runway. But he said he couldn’t stand idly by while a priceless piece of the famous English countryside was covered in concrete. “This is the very last place that should be developed, very, very last,” he said. “Our heritage will be gone forever.”