Brexit: Heathrow boss urges government to back third runway plans
The decision was announced a day after the UK triggered Article 50 to begin divorce proceedings from the European Union Reuters

The consortium of global investors that owns Heathrow has pledged to invest £650m ($808.78m) to fund major projects in 2019. These projects include the expansion of Terminal 2 and a new southern access tunnel for directing road traffic to the London airport.

Discussions were being held over the past week at Heathrow's board meeting and a decision was taken on Thursday (30 March), a day after the UK triggered Article 50, beginning the formal process of leaving the European Union (EU).

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The London airport would now work on the details of the projects and present it for shareholders approval.

Commenting on Heathrow's investment, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani, CEO of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) – one of the investors – said: "Our investment in Heathrow is much more than just an investment in one of the world's great airports – it's an investment in Britain's connections to the world."

"As the UK reshapes its role in the world, we confirm our commitment as proud partners of a great trading nation."

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye was cited by the Telegraph as saying that the investment by these overseas investors was "great news for Heathrow passengers and for Britain". He explained that the investment would not only improve the quality of its passenger experience, but also improve its ability to deal with growing demand of its services.

Heathrow is owned by a consortium of global investors which apart from QIA include, Ferrovial S.A., Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, Alinda Capital Partners of the United States, China Investment Corporation and Universities Superannuation Scheme.

Even as the two-year divorce process from EU has raised concerns about the future of the country as far as businesses are concerned, the current move shows how confident overseas investors are about UK's potentials.

A number of companies including Toyota, Dyson, Amazon and McLaren have revealed similar investment plans. While the Japanese automaker recently said it would invest £240m in its Derbyshire car plant, Dyson said it would expand its UK base tenfold.

McLaren recently said that it would invest £50m in a UK factory and Amazon has pledged to create more than 5,000 full-time jobs in the country.