Gatwick Airport plans to bring emergency runway into daily use

The UK’s Gatwick Airport has released its draft master plan, which includes a proposal to bring its emergency runway into routine use to increase flight capacity.As per the existing planning agreement, which is set to expire next year, the standby runway can be used when the main runway is closed for maintenance or emergencies.The draft master plan proposes to bring the standby runway into routine use for departing flights, alongside its main runway, by the mid-2020s.This innovative development, which would meet all international safety requirements, would be delivered without increasing the airport’s noise footprint and provide greater operational resilience,” the airport said in its press statement.