A render of Heathrow West's Terminal 6 (Image courtesy of the Arora Group)

The transport secretary has shortlisted two potential operators to oversee the development of Heathrow’s third runway as part of an overhaul of the planning process that she hopes will speed up the megaproject’s delivery.

Heidi Alexander told MPs on Wednesday that bids from incumbent operator Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) and the ‘Heathrow West’ proposal from hotel tycoon Surinder Arora remained under “active consideration”, confirming that five other proposals from unnamed bidders had been rejected.

Ministers will now seek further information from the rival schemes, Alexander added, before coming to a conclusion on which bid to progress before the end of next month.

In what was the first formal update on the

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