Bill for planned Boris island airport could reach £70bn

The bill for Boris Johnson's proposed Thames Estuary airport could reach £70 billion, the man leading the project admitted today.

Daniel Moylan, deputy chairman of Transport for London, said the island airport scheme could end up costing double previous estimates.

Original estimates set the total bill for a new hub at about £40 billion. Mr Moylan said: "We haven't yet worked out a recommendation for a particular location and one of the biggest costs when building an airport is the access to it, the cost of which will depend on where it is built. A very rough estimate might be between £40 billion to £60 billion or £70 billion."

Mr Moylan, who compiled the study, told Kent Online website that it was a 20-year project, which made spreading the cost "a little bit less frightening".