Sir Nigel Rudd to step down as Heathrow chair

Sir Nigel Rudd is stepping down as chairman of Heathrow in September next year, but is going out fighting for a third runway for the airport.

The move, which the airport said is in line with standard board practice, comes a week after the government announced it would delay a decision on building a third runway at the hub until summer 2016.

The company said during his nine-year tenure as chairman, the airport has gone through significant change including the sale of airports, a regrouping of the company to focus solely on the UK's hub airport, and the opening of Terminal 2: The Queen’s Terminal which marked the end of an £11bn investment programme.

In the announcement on Thursday, Sir Nigel said he is proud to have played a role in re-establishing Heathrow as a national asset for the UK, and made a plea to the government for another runway.

“I’ve seen first-hand just how much of an economic engine Heathrow is for all parts of our great trading nation,” he said.

“That’s why it’s so important that the government lives up to its 'open for business' mandate and expands Heathrow.

“We can keep Britain at the heart of the global economy and I will continue to actively make the case for a bigger and better Heathrow.”

Sir Nigel will remain in the role until a new chairperson is appointed, which is expected to be completed in the second half of 2016.

The company indicated his replacement “will take forward the airport’s expansion plans and help Heathrow achieve its ambition of giving passengers the best airport service in the world”.

“It has been an honour and great pleasure to work with Sir Nigel and I will miss his sound advice, unerring support and good humour,” said Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye.

“We are starting the process of finding a replacement for Sir Nigel and Heathrow thanks him for the tremendous work he has done for our company over the past decade.”

Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin announced last Thursday that the final decision about whether to build the new runway at Heathrow, expand the airport’s northern runway or build a second runway at Gatwick airport will be delayed until summer 2016.

That timeline coincides with the London mayoral elections, which takes place on 5 May next year.

A final decision had initially been promised to be made by the end of 2015, but the government now believed more work needed to be done on the environmental impacts of the options.

The delay was described by the British Chambers of Commerce’s John Longworth as “gutless”.