Gatwick today claimed a second runway could be built at the airport for £7.8 billion – considerably less than the cost of a new runway at Heathrow.
This would result in airport charges – £12-15 per passenger at today’s prices – that would be around a third of the price of Heathrow’s, and an operational second runway by 2025.
The details are part of a 3,200-page report due to be submitted to the Airports Commission tomorrow showing “clearly why expansion at Gatwick is the obvious solution to meeting the UK’s connectivity needs for the next generation”.
The airport claimed its expansion plans can be delivered more cost-effectively, with a higher degree of certainty and much less planning, construction and financial risk than its rival.
Gatwick claimed the economic benefit to the UK of the enhanced competition that would be created would amount to £40 billion more than Heathrow’s third runway.
A two-runway Gatwick against a two-runway Heathrow will “encourage greater competition between airlines and airports, spur innovation, drive greater cost efficiencies and result in lower fares for passengers,” the airport’s submission said.
Gatwick chief executive Stewart Wingate said: “As we reach this critical point in the aviation debate it is clear that the Airports Commission has a very real choice to make: expand Gatwick and create genuine competition in the market with lower fares for everyone, or move back to a London airport market dominated by a single player and saddle the next generation with higher air fares.
“Why would you choose to fly a quarter of a million more planes every year over one of the world’s most densely populated cities when instead you can fly them mostly over fields? Why tunnel part of the busiest motorway in Europe – the M25 – causing serious traffic disruption, when you can build on land already set aside for expansion?
“The choice is an obvious one. Expand the best and only deliverable option – Gatwick – and create a market that serves everyone.”