Heathrow submits third runway plan and seeks green light in September

Heathrow has submitted its "shovel-ready" plans for a third runway as part of a £50bn investment, as the government said expanding Europe's largest airport could bring 100,000 jobs and drive growth.

- Gwyn Topham

The two-mile-long runway would cross a diverted M25 and allow more than 750 additional flights a day over London, helping increase the total number of passengers to 150 million a year.

Environmental campaigners called it a "doomed scheme" that would release millions of tonnes of CO2 while benefiting only a small minority of rich flyers.

Heathrow said that with government support it could obtain planning permission by 2029 and have the runway in operation by 2035.

Its proposals remain essentially the same as those submitted in 2019 and approved in principle by the government and MPs. That scheme survived a brief block on climate grounds sparked by legal challenges from campaigners, which overturned on appeal in 2020.

However, the plans were put on hold as passenger numbers dropped during the pandemic. The shareholders in the airport, which include the French private equity firm Ardian and Saudi Arabia and Qatar's sovereign wealth funds, are seeking legislative change, as well as long-term political support, before filing a full planning application.

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has strongly endorsed expansion, but Heathrow is seeking firm policy guarantees after previous runway plans were overturned.