Sean Dilley, Molly Stazicker and Esme Stallard
BBC Transport and BBC Climate & Science
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A second track would be fully operational by the end of the decade if the plans are approved, says Gatwick
A decision is expected later if Gatwick Airport can extend to two tracks that operate simultaneously.
The airport wants to move its northern track, which is currently used only for the taxi or as a backup, and making it operational at the turn of the decade.
Gatwick is the most popular unique track airport in Europe, with more than 40 million passengers who use it last year.
If the authorization is granted, the work would begin almost immediately, but the deputies, the local authorities and the residents are strongly opposed.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander will announce her decision in a ministerial declaration written in Parliament later.
On Tuesday, she told industry leaders that she had “no intention of cutting the wings of anyone”, and said aviation was good for growth.
“I am not a kind of Eco Warrior, shame on theft. I love flying-I still have,” she said during a speech at the annual dinner of Trade Body Airlines UK in London.
Gatwick directors say that with 55 takeoffs and landings in a busy hour, the airport is “full”.
Being able to use the two tracks could increase the number of departures of 50,000 per year by the late 2030s, according to Gatwick. He indicates that some 30,000 of these flights are planned to leave the northern track which will only be used for departures and not landings.
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Bronwen Jones of Gatwick shows the BBC Sean Dilley The Order of the grass where the North track would be extended under the airport proposals
Bronwen Jones, Director of Development at Gatwick, thinks that a second track would be “a victory for everyone”.
“We are going to provide 14,000 additional jobs and generate 1 billion pounds sterling per year of additional income across the country,” she told the BBC.
She said expansion would create more flight slots on the two tracks.
“This allows us to offer new routes, new airlines, more frequencies on existing routes, so that passengers have more choices.”
A key element of the planning request is the authorization to move the second track 12m (39 feet) to the north. This would comply with international security standards of 210m between the line centers of the two tracks.
The work would be funded by 2.2 billion pounds of private investment.
Airport “ bucket and bspade ”
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Noise is one of the main concerns
Sally Pavey, President of the Communities against Gatwick Noise (Cagne) programs, is worried about “uncontrollable noise, ramifications on roads, decline in air quality … and climate change”.
“We cannot continue to ignore climate change and it would be wrong to allow a new” Bucket and Spade “track, as we say, to the detriment of residents and the economy,” she said. Gatwick is largely considered an airport for short-term vacation destinations with far fewer commercial and long-haul flights than Heathrow.
The group would take legal action thanks to a judicial examination if the expansion continued, she added.
Gatwick says he is committed to reducing noise levels below those of 2019 – which, according to Cagne, was one of the worst years for noise.
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed her support for the expansion of Heathrow airport last month
Last month, Chancellor Rachel Reeves supported a third controversial track in Heathrow, insisting that this would not compromise the objectives of decarbonization and would be good for economic growth.
On Wednesday, independent government advisers, the British Climate Change Committee (UKCCC), recommended that to achieve the country’s climatic objectives, the number of warming gases from the planet released by the country’s aviation sector was to drop by 17% compared to the 2003 levels.
Part of the flight pollution, he said, could be reduced by changing aircraft with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and capturing the warming gases from the released planet.
But experts think that it could be difficult to obtain raw material, such as corn grain or food waste, necessary to manufacture SAF.
The UKCCC said the best way to reduce the impact of industry on climate change would be to considerably slow the flight demand.
At the current level, demand should increase by 53% by 2040, while the UKCC said that this should be closer to 16%.
Last year, he recommended that the government “stop the expansion of the airport” until it has an approach to manage the capacity changes of airports across the United Kingdom. But he has now changed his advice because he thinks that technological development will allow aviation to be more decarbonized than before.
Now, he recommends developing contingencies, including limiting the expansion of the airport, if these technologies do not emerge.
Alex Chapman, from the left of the central reflection group, the New Economics Foundation questioned the government’s argument that Gatwick’s second track would stimulate economic growth in the entire United Kingdom.
“It is mainly an investment that will support the economy, potentially, of the Airport and London and Southeast Airport region, but at the cost of others,” he said.
“Is it logical to blow the carbon budget on this kind of luxury good while other areas of the economy are fighting?”
