Heathrow waits on court clearance for runway it no longer needs

London’s Heathrow airport is waiting for a ruling from the UK Supreme Court Wednesday that could give it permission to build a third runway that it may no longer need. An appeals court ruled in February that the government failed to take full account of the Paris Climate Agreement when approving the airport’s expansion. Heathrow was allowed to appeal in May, but by then its growth outlook had diminished amid the collapse in travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic. That’s still the case as the Supreme Court prepares to decide whether to uphold the lower court’s ruling or overturn it. Borders are restricted, with the number of passengers passing through Europe’s busiest hub down 88% in November, and 72% year-to-date. “Heathrow would like to get the approval in the bag, to be ready for when demand comes back in the future, but as things stand, it’s impossible to project when the extra capacity delivered by the third runway will be needed,” said John Strickland, of airline advisory firm JLS Consulting. “In the short to medium term, there’s plenty of unused capacity.”<br/>