Secret plans revealed for second Gatwick runway
plans secretly being developed by companies bidding to buy Britain’s second largest
airport.
a section entitled "Gatwick builds a second runway".
on the Government to amend its aviation policy. Its statement threatens to unravel
state policy at a time when the Cabinet is in dispute over plans to build a third
runway at Heathrow.
but the environmental impact would be much less than that at Heathrow in West
London. A new runway at Gatwick would mean 26,000 additional residents affected
by aircraft noise above 54 decibels, compared with 118,000 around Heathrow.
of the existing one and only 400 metres from homes in Crawley. BAA says that
land has been safeguarded and gives details of how the expansion could increase
maximum capacity at Gatwick from 45 million passengers a year to 80 million; 67
million people used Heathrow last year.
built at Stansted and the second at Heathrow.
and preventing operators from responding to the market. It said: "[The Government]
should ensure that the aviation national policy statement does not unduly constrain
this market and should give consideration to the ambitions of the new owner of
Gatwick airport, including the possibility of a second runway after 2019."
to build a new runway for 40 years.
planning process to be completed by 2018 so that building could start in 2019.
AirPort, has told the commission that it wants the 2019 agreement overturned to
allow construction to begin even earlier.
2020 and could slip further.
Airports Authority, Fraport, the German airports company, and large Californian
pension funds.