Gatwick bosses have urged the Prime Minister to avoid delaying a decision on proposals for a new runway for Britain’s second largest airport.

A delay in obtaining planning approval This would increase the cost of the project by £2.2 billion, Gatwick said, while preventing airlines from adding new routes.

Gatwick, which attracted 41 million passengers in 2023, aims to increase its annual capacity to 80 million by convert a tape used only occasionally for flights to a full-fledged runway.

While Labor has made positive noises about its willingness to consider new runway projects since coming to power, a decision on Luton Airport plans to increase capacity from 18 million passengers per year to 32 million, was delayed from October to January.

Tim Norwood, Gatwick’s director of planning, said a timely decision would send a message beyond aviation that Sir Keir Starmer was serious about promoting infrastructure projects to advance the city’s growth agenda. Labor Party.

He said: “The Government has made it clear that it wants to speed up and reform the planning system.

“The way to do this is to make decisions quickly and not let them fester on ministers’ desks. This would give confidence not only to Gatwick but also to other investors and infrastructure providers.

“We already have a team on the project and we are ready to implement it. Any delay in the decision will add prolongation costs and uncertainty.

The Planning Inspectorate is expected to make a recommendation to the Department for Transport on the Gatwick proposals next Wednesday.

The government then has three months to make a final decision, meaning it should do so before the end of February unless it finds a reason to delay.

Although the Planning Inspectorate’s opinions will not be made public, Gatwick’s application appears to have a good chance of being approved under rules favoring projects that aim to make the most of existing assets.

Mr Norwood, who said he would be “disappointed and surprised” if approval of the track was not recommended by inspectors, insisted Gatwick had provided all the necessary details, including information of the type requested in Luton.

Gatwick says its plan would create around 14,000 jobs and deliver a £1 billion annual boost to GDP. It would be financed by the airport’s owners, the French manufacturer Vinci and the investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners, owned by the American asset management giant BlackRock.

Work to enable the new runway would include moving the centerline of the existing strip 12 meters north to ensure sufficient separation from the main runway.

A taxiway is also expected to be moved north and the airport plans to expand its terminals and add a seventh aircraft dock with a dozen new gates, as well as build new roads and new hotels.

As the new runway has a holding area at one end which would prevent the installation of navigation aids upon landing, it could only be used for take-offs. This would allow the old runway to reduce the number of departures and accommodate many more landings.

Gatwick originally sought to build an entirely new runway south of the existing airport site, but lost out to Heathrow, whose bid for a third runway is on hold.

While Sir Keir and Louise Haigh, the Transport Secretary, could face a relatively simple decision based on planning alone, approval of the Gatwick expansion is likely to provoke criticism from campaigners for the climate.

The project also faces opposition from local residents, who say it would increase aircraft noise and particle pollution and create “nightmare” construction traffic.

Approval would also have consequences for the wider south-east airport network, especially if the Luton plans also go ahead. Any new submissions from Heathrow would then have to be considered in the context of significantly increased capacity.

Mr Norwood said Gatwick, whose largest airline is EasyJet with 19 million passengers, is not seeking to compete with Heathrow as a transfer hub and represents the only option to address the shortage of runway capacity in the near future.

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