Gatwick will be “road and rail ready” for a second runway by 2021 no additional cost to the taxpayer.
The claim is due to be made today as bosses from both Heathrow and Gatwick try to persuade the government’s Airports Commission that they will have the best infrastructure to cope with extra travellers.
A £6.5 billion government-sponsored Thameslink programme linking Gatwick to Greater London and the southeast is already underway.
Bosses will say plans to build transport links to support a second runway at the West Sussex airport by 2025 will require no additional taxpayer funding, the Telegraph reported.
The airport’s senior transport adviser, Hugh Sumner, said new Gatwick Express trains by 2016 would help to double rail capacity before the end of the decade, and treble it by 2035.
“Not only is the second runway at Gatwick the optimal thing for the nation and economy, but beneath that, getting better access to and from Gatwick will be in place well before a second runway happens,” he said.
“Not only will Gatwick not need a public subsidy for [this], but it will generate about £3 billion back to the taxpayer in terms of increased rail revenues.”
Gatwick claims it will be able to get travellers from its internal rail platforms to all terminals in just two minutes.
“We can save the consumer time getting to and from the airport, time within the airport and time taxiing,” said Sumner.
Heathrow bosses will also lay out plans to beef up transport links with plans to treble rail capacity to 15,000 seats an hour by 2030, meaning more than 70% of the UK will be within three hours of the airport if it builds a third runway.
Head of surface access Simon Earles said: “Heathrow is already the UK’s best-connected transport hub.
“It is in a better geographical location for most UK passengers and companies than other options for airport expansion.”
Heathrow claims that new rail links will slash journey times to and from the airport.
Journey times to Leeds would be cut by more than half to just 1 hour 40 minutes, while travelling to Birmingham would take just under an hour.