London Gatwick Airport Submits Plan to Bring Northern Runway into Regular Use
London Gatwick Airport has submitted a plan to the UK's Planning Inspectorate that could bring its Northern Runway into regular use by the end of the decade.
The runway is currently maintained for emergencies only, but Gatwick believes that by repositioning its centerline by 12m it could safely be used to operate departing flights. This would allow the airport to serve up to 75 million passengers per year, up from nearly 47 million in 2019.
The move would create around 14,000 new jobs and inject £1 billion ($1.3 billion) into the region's economy each year. It would also improve airport resilience, meet future passenger demand, and increase competition in the London airport market.
Gatwick has made legally binding commitments around noise levels and reduces carbon emissions, including that within nine years of the Northern Runway opening the airport’s operations will generate less noise than in 2019. The Northern Runway would also not be used routinely between 23:00 and 06:00.
The plan has been supported by eight out of 10 residents in the nearby region.