A
plan to bring a second runway into regular operation at Gatwick Airport to reduce
delays and increase capacity has moved a step closer with the announcement of a
twelve-week public consultation from 9 September.
The
airport wants to bring its northern runway (the lower of the two parallel
runways in the image above) into routine use for
departing aircraft. It is currently only used for emergencies. The proposal would mean
the airport could operate with two runways at a time, which it says would reduce
delays and congestion and allow an increase in passenger capacity to
approximately 75 million passengers per annum by 2038.
Stewart
Wingate, Gatwick’s CEO, said: “While we are currently
experiencing low passenger and air traffic volumes due to the
global pandemic, we are confident that Gatwick will not only fully
recover to previous passenger levels, but has the potential
to continue to grow back into one of Europe’s premier airports. Our
plans to bring our existing northern runway into routine
use will not only help to secure that growth but
will also ensure many thousands of additional jobs and a vital boost
to the economy for our local region.
“We
would like to hear views from local people and interested groups on the
proposed Northern Runway Project as part of our comprehensive public
consultation process and encourage everyone to take time to review our plans.
“Aside
from the economic benefits our plans will have, we remain committed
to our sustainability goals, and our northern runway
plans are designed to be a low impact way of unlocking new capacity
from our existing infrastructure, much of which is already in place.”