Britain’s Labour government is set to throw its weight behind adding an incredibly controversial third runway at London Heathrow Airport, as well as expanding London’s Gatwick and Luton airports, in a bid to boost the country’s economy.
Heathrow says the long-delayed plans to add a third runway at the West London airport would benefit the entire country, adding up to £211 billion in economic growth and providing as many as 180,000 new jobs.
Environmentalists have battled Heathrow’s expansion for years, but in late 2020, the Supreme Court overturned a decision by a lower court that had ruled allowing the third runway project to go ahead would violate the British government’s commitments under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Following that decision, however, the last Conservative government continually kicked the can down the road and the third runway plan has effectively been dead in the water for several years.
Since the Labour Party took office in a landslide victory last July, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has bet her reputation on growing Britain’s economy, but experts have cast serious doubts over her current plans and Reeves now believes the country must do much more to achieve the growth that is needed.
According to anonymous sources cited by Bloomberg, Reeves could announce the go-ahead for the expansion of Heathrow, Gatwick, and Luton, as well as the resumption of several other delayed infrastructure projects later this month.
Heathrow is currently operating at near full capacity, but the airport managed to record its busiest year on record in 2024, with nearly 84 million passengers passing through its doors last year.
Although Heathrow has won the right to build a third runway in the courts, it still needs to apply for local planning permission to get the project off the ground, and airport boss Thomas Woldbye says this isn’t something that he is willing to commit to until he gets a “clear steer” from the government.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the government suggested that it was poised to allow the expansion of the three London airports to go ahead, saying: “We are determined to get our economy moving and secure the long-term future of the UK’s aviation sector.”
“All expansion proposals must demonstrate they contribute to economic growth” while staying in line with environmental obligations.”
Expansion at Heathrow remains the most controversial project, given the fact that it will require residential areas around the airport to be bulldozed to make way for the new runway. Motorists will also have to contend with major disruption on the M25 motorway as a tunnel is built over the top to accommodate the 3,500 meter runway.
The new runway would be located to the northwest of the two existing parallel runways, with two new passenger terminal buildings built around Terminal 5 to the West. Heathrow’s older Terminal 3 would be demolished, while Terminal 2 would be doubled in size.
A series of satellite terminals in a toaster rack formation would then be built between the main terminal buildings and a new underground transit train would connect all the terminals and satellite buildings.
