Plans for a second runway at London Gatwick Airport (LGW/EGKK) have been approved by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander.
The project will see the current second runway (08L/26R), which is only used as a taxiway or when the main runway (08R/26L) is out of service, moved 12 metres to the north to create a larger separation between it and the main runway allowing simultaneous use.
The work will cost around £2.2bn which will be privately financed but will create hundreds of jobs and provide a boost to the local economy with flights increasing from around 280,000 per year to 390,000 within 15 years.
Under plans approved by Heidi Alexander, an additional 40,000 flights will be initially allowed at the airport before work is complete on the second runway, and an additional 70,000 once work is completed. This could see passenger numbers at London Gatwick hit 80 million.
London Gatwick is already Europe’s busiest single-runway airport but its capacity is limited by runway availability. Being able to use the additional runway for short-haul flights will free up capacity on the longer, main runway for larger aircraft.
As well as moving the northern runway, additional taxiways will be created to aid flow around the airport and replace the ones lost by the creation of new runway.