The UK government has given the go ahead for a consultation to take place into proposals to build a €58 billion airport in the Thames Estuary.
 

Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said that the consultation on the airport, due to be announced in March, will also consider a number of other options to expand the capacity for flights in the South East of England, except for a third runway at Heathrow Airport.
 

A spokesman for David Cameron, said that while no decisions had yet been taken on this issue, “we will explore all the options for maintaining the UK's aviation hub status, with the exception of a third runway at Heathrow.
 

“The government will consult on a sustainable framework for UK aviation this spring at which time we will set out our long term plans for the sector.” 
 

London Mayor Boris Johnson, who has championed the idea of an airport in the Thames Estuary, said that the new airport is vital if London is to compete with the rest of Europe.
 

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today show, he said: “You can’t go on expecting Britain to compete with France and Germany and other European countries when we simply can’t supply the flights to these growth destinations, China, Latin America.”
 

“We are being left badly behind.
 

“The government is absolutely right to start looking at a more imaginative solution.”
 

The airport, designed by the architect Lord Norman Foster, would be located on reclaimed marshland on the Isle of Grain in Kent.
 

With four runways, the 24-hour hub would be designed to handle 150 million passengers a year – double that of Heathrow – and would cost around €58 billion to build.
 

Meanwhile, Lord Foster has unveiled plans to build what would be the UK's largest railway station underneath the airport, capable of handling 300,000 passengers per day, and with access from central London in 30 minutes.
 

In terms of funding, the architect said that the new airport would not need to depend on public funding, but would be attractive for private investors across the globe.
 

He said: "Britain can no longer trade on an inadequate and aged infrastructure.
 

"A fast-growing population and an evolving global economy demand that the quality of the UK's infrastructure be improved and its capacity increased dramatically.

"The Thames Hub will lay the foundations for the future prosperity of Britain.”
 

However the airport plans have received mixed responses from the aviation industry.
 

GMB, the union for airport workers, has slammed the plans as “pie in the sky” and called on all the major political parties to reconsider once more building a third runway at Heathrow, which would be “far less expensive and can be completed earlier”.
 

Mick Rix, GMB National Officer for the civil aviation industry, said: “GMB is dismayed that the government is looking at another airport hub in the South of England when we already have the world’s largest airport hub at Heathrow.
 

“Building a third runway at Heathrow is far less expensive and can be completed earlier than starting from scratch to build a new airport hub in north Kent or in the Thames Estuary.”
 

He added that a third runway would safeguard the jobs of the tens of thousands of workers in West London whose livelihoods depend on Heathrow while “moving to a new hub location will devastate jobs in West London”.
 

Rix said: “Heathrow’s worldwide destinations are already decreasing, due to capacity constraints, which have not been addressed by successive governments.

“New runways at many European hub airports are already taking Heathrow business. This is already having a detrimental knock on effect to jobs, skills and the economy of London and the UK.
 

“GMB call on all major political parties to reopen their policy on expanding Heathrow. It is time to confront the reality that the future is Heathrow and any other solution like Boris Island is “pie in the sky”.
 

On the other hand, ADS, the trade organisation that represents industries in the aerospace sector has welcomed the plans for a new airport arguing that increased airport capacity will benefit the UK economy without damaging environmental targets.
 

Rees Ward, CEO of ADS, said: “With UK airports in the South East operating at full capacity our businesses are missing out on the opportunity to engage with the new emerging markets – something that is not lost on our European competitors.

“A national infrastructure on such a scale as a new airport would bring obvious benefit in the short term in terms of inward investment and jobs for the South East, however what it also encapsulates is a vision for the future.
 

“A new competitive hub in the South East would demonstrate that the UK is serious about remaining a major trading power for the years to come and would leave a lasting legacy that would benefit the whole country – not just one region.”