Airports
London Gatwick Maps Out Options To Increase Runway Capacity
Plans call for the regular use of the standby runway for departing flights

London Gatwick Airport has outlined plans to bring its standby runway into routine use for departing flights alongside the existing main runway by the mid-2020s, a move it said would accommodate between 10 and 15 more hourly aircraft movements during peak hours and add resilience to the operation. The airport, the UK’s second busiest in terms of passenger throughput and the world’s busiest single-runway airport, described the proposal as “innovative” and a viable way to “grow and do more Britain” as the country prepares to exit the European Union. Gatwick handled 45.6 million passengers and 282,000 aircraft movements in 2017.