3rd runway shelved? Not quite.

You may have seen the report in the Sunday Times on 25 February that the third runway is scrapped, and that Heathrow are seeking other forms of expansion within its current footprint... Heathrow issued a statement to the media denying the third runway was shelved but it didn’t refute the statements about a form of ‘interim expansion’.

What is meant by ‘interim expansion’?

This is our terminology, not the airport’s.

Currently, the Airport has a limit of 480,000 flights per annum. It is thought that Heathrow could seek to increase this number to 505,000, or around 70 extra flights per day. They previously stated this intention back in 2019.

Heathrow are currently pursuing the expansion of its taxiways, which would allow larger aircraft to take-off on the northern runway in an easterly direction, which is currently not possible. These plans are currently being assessed by Hillingdon Council, the local planning authority. Although the airport state that its intention with this project is to balance noise impacts from the airport in a fairer way, the infrastructure works associated with the project could allow for more planes to use the airport at a future date.

Alternatively, additional capacity could also be facilitated by the introduction of mixed mode, allowing planes to arrive and depart on the same runway. Previous estimates suggest this could permit an additional 60,000 aircraft movements per year, taking the limit from its current cap of 480,000 to 540,000, or 164 extra flights per day.

It is expected that Heathrow will release more details about this in coming weeks. If there is an announcement, we will convene a public meeting, which we will notify you about. In the meantime, without any further information, we cannot rule anything in or out, sadly.