The Government’s decision to delay until next summer whether or not to add a third runway to Heathrow Airport has added more fuel to the fire about what to do in the meantime.
An additional runway takes at least fifteen years to build, so the concern is what to do with the rising number of passengers flying every year. Stansted has been the fastest growing airport in the UK, with the numbers increasing exponentially each year. Stansted has attempted to force the government to pay attention to the rising need for additional capacity as well as improving their current capacity. The delay is to further ascertain the long-term effects on air quality, noise and carbon pollution.
The problem with this scenario is the longer they take to decide on it, the further away the new runway is. This in turn increases the need for solutions for the ever-increasing number of passengers that are travelling. Stansted is currently approved for 35 million people per annum, and they are on track to hit 23mppa by March. At the current rate of growth, Stansted will be well above their approved numbers in a few short years.
With these levels of continued growth, there definitely needs to be a plan in place to improve the current processes. The options to increase the current capacity at Gatwick remain, as well as improving rail and transit service at Stansted to further improve their ability to handle large numbers. This continues to be an ongoing problem for the UK. Hopefully, the Government will have a plan that is more detailed than postponing! Until then we will continue to follow.