Gatwick plans expansion and job creation

Gatwick announces plans to bring its existing Northern Runway into routine use to secure its long-term growth, 18,400 new jobs and a boost to the local economy.

Gatwick has announced that a public consultation will start on the September 9, 2021, on plans to bring its existing Northern Runway into routine use alongside its Main Runway.

The scheme will help secure the airports long term growth, generating approximately 18,400 additional jobs by 2038 and an additional expected £1.5 billion to the region. While passenger numbers currently remain low due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Gatwick is taking its plans for growth forward now as we still expect to be capacity constrained in  the time it would take to secure approvals, complete construction and start operations.

The proposed plans would allow the airport’s Northern Runway to be brought into routine use, for departing aircraft, by repositioning its centre line further north by 12 metres. This would enable dual runway operations with the airport’s Main Runway whilst meeting all international safety standards. The plans would add resilience to Gatwick’s operations, reducing delays and congestion, bring new global connections and allow an increase in passenger capacity to approximately 75 million passengers per annum by 2038.

Stewart Wingate, Chief Executive Officer, Gatwick Airport, said, “While we are currently experiencing low passenger and air traffic volumes due to the global pandemic, we are confident that Gatwick will not only fully recover to previous passenger levels, but has the potential to continue to grow back into one of Europe’s premier airports. Our plans to bring our existing Northern Runway into routine use will not only help to secure that growth but will also ensure many thousands of additional jobs and a vital boost to the economy for our local region.

“We would like to hear views from local people and interested groups on the proposed Northern Runway Project as part of our comprehensive public consultation process and encourage everyone to take time to review our plans.

“Aside from the economic benefits our plans will have, we remain committed to our sustainability goals, and our Northern Runway plans are designed to be a low impact way of unlocking new capacity from our existing infrastructure, much of which is already in place,” he added on August 25.

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