UK’s top airports aim to fly 150mn more passengers a year

The UK’s eight biggest airports have plans to fly almost 150mn more passengers a year, the equivalent of 300,000 extra jumbo jets, in a bet that climate targets will not hold back the industry. A Financial Times analysis of their expansion projects found that combined they would be able to handle 387m passengers annually, a more than 60% increase on the 240m travellers who used the airports in 2019. The figures highlight how airports are planning for a period of breakneck growth despite significant financial losses during the pandemic. They also demonstrate how the industry believes that transformational growth is still possible in the lead-up to the deadline in 2050 for the UK to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions. More than a third of the growth would come from London Heathrow’s proposed megaproject to build a third runway. This would increase passenger capacity at the UK’s biggest airport to 142mn a year compared with the 81mn it handled in 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic hit. The airport paused planning in 2020 as Covid-19 shut down the global aviation sector but last month signalled it would resume soon. Its CE John Holland Kaye told the FT in February that it was working “with the aim of restarting the planning process . . . We will share what our plans are later this year.” Any decision to proceed with the application is subject to an internal review, which has yet to be completed.<br/>