Runway decision for Gatwick expected soon

Admin

February 28, 2025
2 min read

Runway decision for Gatwick expected soon

A decision over a second runway at Gatwick Airport is expected soon. The airport is hoping to move its northern runway, currently only used for taxiing planes or as a backup, to make it operational by 2030.

Gatwick is the busiest single-runway airport in Europe, seeing over 40 million passengers last year. If it gains permission, work will begin almost right away. But MPs, local authorities, and residents are strongly opposed to the proposal.

Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, is expected to announce her decision in a written ministerial statement to Parliament soon. She recently told industry leaders that she had “no intention of clipping anyone’s wings,” adding that aviation is good for growth.

“I am not some sort of flight-shaming eco warrior. I love flying – I always have”, she said at a speech during the annual dinner of trade body Airlines UK in London.

Being able to use two runways could increase the amount of departures by 50,000 annually by the end of the next decade, Gatwick has said. It added that around 30,000 of those flights are expected to depart from the north runway which will only be for departures and not landings.

The airport’s development director believes that a second runway would be a “win for everyone”.

“We are going to deliver 14,000 additional jobs and generate £1bn a year additional revenue across the nation”, Bronwen Jones told the BBC. The expansion would mean more flight slots on both runways.

“That allows us to offer new routes, new airlines, more frequencies on existing routes, so that passengers have more choice”, she concluded.

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