Gatwick Airport in London Proposes 60% Capacity Boost with New Plans

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London Gatwick has submitted a planning application to increase its annual passenger capacity by 60%, making it the latest UK airport to anticipate significant growth in air travel despite concerns about climate change.

The airport, which is the second largest in the UK, aims to bring its standby runway into regular use as part of a £2.2bn project. By the late 2030s, it could handle up to 75 million passengers annually, surpassing the record of 46.5 million passengers in 2019.

The plans involve moving the backup runway 12 meters to the north to create sufficient space between the main runway and the backup runway, allowing both to operate simultaneously in accordance with international safety standards.

Stewart Wingate, CEO of Gatwick, claims that the expansion plan is both economically and environmentally sound. Despite the expected total of 41 million passengers this year, he cites forecasts for a significant increase in demand in the coming years.

While this expansion project is more modest compared to Gatwick’s previous plans for a new runway, which were abandoned in favor of expanding London Heathrow, Wingate argues that repurposing the backup runway aligns with the government’s policy on airport expansion.

Gatwick expects the government’s decision on the planning application to be made by early 2025.

Despite the UK’s commitment to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050, both the industry and government believe that aviation expansion is possible. The aviation industry has pledged to achieve the same target date by utilizing less polluting fuels.

However, environmental groups and some scientists question the feasibility of this commitment. The Climate Change Committee, an independent advisory panel for the government, recently recommended that all airport expansions should be put on hold until a UK-wide framework is established to assess and regulate the sector’s emissions.

Despite these concerns, the UK’s largest airports are still pursuing expansion. Collectively, the eight largest airports plan to accommodate 387 million passengers annually, an increase from the 240 million passengers in 2019.

London Luton has applied to nearly double its annual capacity to 32 million passengers, while London Stansted has received approval to handle 43 million passengers per year.

Heathrow airport temporarily halted its expansion plans due to the pandemic but intends to revisit them later this year.

Tim Norwood, chief planning officer at Gatwick, emphasizes the need for the government to balance environmental concerns with the social and economic benefits of development. He acknowledges that there will be some environmental impacts and assures that mitigation efforts will be made.

If approved, the expansion project will create 3,000 jobs at the airport and contribute £1 billion to the local economy every year.