London Gatwick’s second runway to boost passenger numbers to 28m

THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS FLYING from London Gatwick Airport will be vastly boosted if current plans go ahead. The airport’s proposal is to allow the use of their emergency runway for regular flights.

According to monitored cable news report, the second busiest airport in the UK could see an extra 90,000 departing flights by 2038. This change would ultimately bring a further 28 million passengers through the London hub each year.

Currently, the Northern Runway is only used when the main runway is inactive. However, Gatwick is reportedly planning an application to permanently open the other runway by 2026.

There had previously been a restriction in place to prevent both runways being in use at the same time. This legislation had, however, expired in August, which now allows scope for revision.

The reports also show that Gatwick is planning to extend both north and south terminals. The work on these properties is expected to be completed by 2029. The extensions would increase the airport’s total capacity to 74 million travellers per year by 2038. This is just under two thirds more than the capacity last year.

Along with this, the airport plans to build three new hotels around the airport’s vicinity by 2032. Two of the new buildings will hold up to 400 rooms, which will comfortably accommodate the boost in passengers.

Both of Gatwick’s north and south terminals would see expansion under the new plans.