Holding times when flying to LHR - fuel question!

[pagey]

The other day I was flying back from Dublin to LHR and the pilot said that we will have the 'usual' 10min holding time in the air once over London before we can land.

Can anyone which knows a bit about aircraft estimate how much fuel is wasted per plane/year by aircraft having to wait in the air?

Surely it is better for our environment to increase capacity at LHR than to have 'planes waiting in the air and consuming vast amounts of fuel doing so?!

[Clanad]

Believe me, the holding patterns are just as aggravating to the pilots. Problem is Heathrow, as well as most other major airports in the world just don't have the runway capacity to handle the traffic. This is especially noticeable when some incelement weather is thrown into the mix. Here in the U.S., millions of dollars are being spent on trying to figure out how to increase traffic at our busiest airport, O'hare in Chicago (as well as most other large ones). Take a look at this: http://www.heathrowairport.com/portal/controller/dispatcher.jsp?CiID=16ccb065d6754010VgnVCM10000036821c0a____&ChID=ca49b065d6754010VgnVCM10000036821c0a____&Ct=B2C_CT_GENERAL&CtID=448c6a4c7f1b0010VgnVCM200000357e120a____&Ch=Airport+Expansion&ChPath=Home%5ELHR%5EAbout+BAA+Heathrow%5EAirport+Expansion&ChIDPath=caf397dc2eb12010VgnVCM100000147e120a____^bde597dc2eb12010VgnVCM100000147e120a____^815797dc2eb12010VgnVCM100000147e120a____^ca49b065d6754010VgnVCM10000036821c0a____

(scroll to the airport diagram #1.) There's no room to add another runway even if London could afford it. The cost is astronomical.

In their defense, holding patterns use the minimum fuel of any portion of a flight. The airspeed is, obviously, greatly reduced as are the power settings and thus the fuel consumed.

Contd.

[Clanad]

Contd.

Still, as you point out, a waste. Having flown as a pilot for many years, there have always been "busy" times at airports, but the last 20 years has seen a literal explosion (no pun intended) in air traffic and almost all major airports in the world experience the same problems...

[The smoker]

I have often thought the waste of fuel must be considerable . Flight BA268 from LA is held in

an holding pattern most days over the Oxford area

around 15.15 I have watched this happen many times using http://www.aeroseek.com/webtrax/fboweb.html