As London’s Heathrow Airport gets ready to move ahead with its controversial plan for a third runway, the area’s #2 airport, Gatwick, has expansion plans of its own.
Gatwick, which was a contender along with Heathrow when the British government decided to let one of the two airports add a runway, was recently acquired by France-based airport operator Vinci. Vinci officials deny they are planning to build an additional runway now, but they do plan to make their backup runway active, essentially doubling the capacity of the airport.
The standby runway, once activated, would handle operations by medium-sized planes, leaving the main runway available for more long-haul flights. Gatwick has become a main base for a number of long-haul discounters such as Norwegian in addition to having a significant British Air base. It is the world’s busiest single-runway airport, a distinction the new plan would terminate.
