The man charged by British airport operator BAA with getting Heathrow's third runway approved said on Tuesday its planning application for the GBP8 billion pound (USD$13.43 billion) project could take up to four years to approve.
"Nobody knows what the new process they have introduced really looks like," BAA director Mike Forster said on the sidelines of the Global Airport Development 2009 conference in Berlin.
BAA, majority-owned by Spain's Ferrovial, is looking at the new planning application structure that was introduced in October and intends to make its submission after the UK general election, Forster said.
"The delay will benefit some parties," Forster said earlier on Tuesday in his speech at the conference.
The project has pitted airlines and businesses against environmentalists and the local population. The Conservatives, tipped with winning the next election, oppose the third runway.
Forster cited a study published by the British Chamber of Commerce in July that claimed that each year the building of a third runway is delayed the country loses between GBP900 million and GBP1.1 billion.
The future of Heathrow as a major European transit hub relied on plans for a third runway, Forster said, adding that the project was more than just about boosting the company's bottom line.
"About one third of our customers are visiting friends and relatives. There is a lot of talk about videoconferencing. I'm not sure you can videoconference your sister's wedding or those sorts of events," Foster said.
