Gatwick How second runway got go-ahead - and what it could mean for other airports

Gatwick airport has been given the go-ahead to build a second runway, allowing it to operate more than 100,000 additional flights a year. What has changed - and what does it mean for Heathrow?

- Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent

What tipped the balance for Gatwick?

In February the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said she was “minded to approve” its second runway plan, after planning inspectors initially recommended refusal. However, she outlined potential conditions, including making most passengers take the train rather than a car to the airport, which Gatwick only partly agreed to accept.

Gatwick said it still needed time to examine the small print of the decision, announced five weeks before the deadline, which appears to reframe public transport quotas as targets rather than being binding. The airport must also make some further concessions on compensating nearby homeowners for noise insulation or, in extreme cases, the costs of moving away.

What happens next?

Assuming it accepts the relaxed conditions, Gatwick will start detailed design work on the £2.2bn scheme, hoping to get the second runway operational by “around the turn of the decade”, according to a spokesperson.

Now the busiest single-runway airport in Europe, it plans to bring its emergency or standby runway into routine use. That means the entire 2.5km (1.5 mile) strip must be moved sideways by 12 metres to allow safe dual operations, with other changes such as extending the two airport terminals and installing new aircraft gates. Gatwick will also pay for highway improvements.