A Gatwick spokesman said the emergency runway is used occasionally for planes taking off and landing when the main runway closes for maintenance. Bringing the standby runway into routine use would, he added “deliver an incremental increase in capacity that complements the expansion schemes of other airports across the South East”.

In 1979 an agreement was signed between the British Airports Authority and West Sussex County Council that a second runway would not enter service at Gatwick for a period of at least 40 years. That deal expires next August.

Recent years have seen Gatwick champion the building of a new runway, but its proposal was rejected in 2015 by the Airports Commission in favour of a third runway at Heathrow. Two years ago the Government backed Heathrow expansion and this summer Parliament voted in favour of the Airports National Policy Statement, which supports a new north west runway at Heathrow.

News of Gatwick’s latest proposal brought typically mixed views.

Business group London First’s programme director for transport Richard Dilks said: “Capacity at London’s airports is fast diminishing, with Gatwick by far the world’s busiest single runway destination. What is clear is that – alongside Heathrow’s expansion – more must be done to build on existing runway capacity and infrastructure if we want to boost connectivity and growth in the UK.”

London Assembly transport committee chair Caroline Pidgeon said: “Our position on airport expansion in the South East of England is clear: we do not support a third runway at Heathrow. However, there needs to be significant investment in transport capacity as a whole by the Government in this part of the country. This has to be a pre-requisite for any plans to expand any airport in this region.”

Aviation Environment Federation director Tim Johnson commented: “Any extra capacity that Gatwick would get from routine use of its emergency runway would be limited. In any case, the airport would need to get new planning permission from Crawley Council. An increase in capacity would increase local environmental costs, including noise, at an airport where growth has been highly contested.”

Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign, which previously fought against a second runway at the airport, suggested that the airport will need to look closely at the commercial viability of bringing the standby runway into use. Its chairman Peter Barclay said: “There are a significant number of taxiway revisions and substantial work on an apron around the southern pier that would be needed to facilitate the runway use; it might end up not being worthwhile.”

A Heathrow airport spokesperson said of Gatwick’s plans: “We have always supported sustainable growth at other UK airports like Gatwick which serve a different purpose to Heathrow.”

• A feature about Heathrow expansion and the airport’s planned surface transport upgrades appears in the October issue of Transportation Professional, which publishes early next week.

Image credit: Gatwick Airport