Heathrow has convened the first meeting of its Heathrow Infrastructure Skills Council, bringing together unions, colleges and training providers to prepare the workforce for its planned expansion. The airport said opportunities in the programme span engineering, logistics, electrical installation, carpentry and joinery.
The skills push is accompanied by forecasts of at least 17,500 local jobs at peak construction and 33,000 jobs across Heathrow's nine neighbouring boroughs by 2055. Heathrow has pledged 5,000 youth apprenticeships, traineeships and other routes into work.
Training and supply-chain measures
The airport will play a key role in the new West London Construction Training Excellence Centre, one of 10 being established nationally by the Department for Education. The centre forms part of a national programme intended to strengthen construction training.
Heathrow is also expanding its SME Academy to help smaller firms compete for supply-chain work generated by the privately financed project. It plans to launch a refreshed face-to-face work experience programme for local students within the next year, followed by an annual careers event starting in March 2027.
The measures form part of a new Economic Development Framework, which sets out how expansion could deliver local and national growth. Lord Blunkett, co-chair of the Heathrow Infrastructure Skills Council, said it was time to look to the horizon, recognise the potential of expansion and investment in major future infrastructure, and put in place the education and skills pipeline needed to meet the challenge.
Political backing under question
The training programme comes amid fresh uncertainty over political support. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has declined to endorse the scheme, suggesting expansion should be a matter for London and Londoners. The Sunday Times has reported that he told Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander he was unconvinced by the project.
Chancellor John Healey struck a more supportive tone on Friday, saying the case for a third runway at Heathrow had always been a case for growth.
The contrasting positions leave the expansion without unified backing from the prime minister and chancellor, even as Heathrow publicly advances its training plans.
The airport still faces a lengthy planning process and has indicated that the runway may not open until 2039, four years later than its original target. That timetable leaves several years between the first skills council meeting and any projected opening. Heathrow did not specify a construction start date in the announcement. The skills measures are therefore preparatory, setting out how expansion could affect the local labour market while the political and planning timetable remains unresolved. The project's political path remains unsettled.