Europe’s busiest airport by passenger numbers, London Heathrow, has released a long-contested and finally-approved plan to add a new terminal, a new “third” runway and modernise its facilities.
The £49-billion (€56-billion) works are controversial not only with local residents and environmental campaigners, but also with stakeholders such as airlines, which have in the past blasted Heathrow’s financial management and value-for-money.
The expansion will boost capacity at the hub by a minimum of 30 new routes, the airport said in a statement, as well as growing passenger handling capacity by nearly 80%, from 84 million to 150 million per year. Chief Executive Thomas Woldbye has explained the need for the growth, saying the airport has been “effectively operating at capacity to the detriment of trade and connectivity.”
📣 This morning we held an event launching our plans for expanding Heathrow. The range of support from across the UK was shown through business leaders, trade unions, local communities, and regional chambers all backing a stronger, better-connected future.
— HeathrowNews (@HeathrowNews) August 1, 2025
Thank you to everyone… pic.twitter.com/SbiBwGkkxe
Economics trump concerns over noise and environment
That economic argument has won out over years of protest from residents neighbouring the airport, who argue their lives and health are being sacrificed at the altar of GDP. Research shows that airport noise is detrimental to the heart health and well-being of those living close to flight paths.
Environmentalists, meanwhile, point out the carbon emissions cost of the expansion, and Greenpeace UK has said the economic reasoning behind the expansion is flawed since the development will “export more tourism wealth out of the UK in the most polluting way possible.”
I remain opposed to a new runway at Heathrow Airport.
— Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (@MayorofLondon) August 1, 2025
My full response to the expansion proposals for a third runway: pic.twitter.com/truKKk6ZlK
With £12 billion (€13.8 billion) going into the new terminal and £15 billion (€17.2 billion) set aside for the overhaul, the project is just one of a series of major infrastructure works that the UK’s Labour government is betting on as a way to kickstart the UK’s post-austerity, post-Brexit, and post-COVID-19 economy.
We are working to kickstart growth.
— HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) August 1, 2025
That is why earlier this year, government announced it was supporting a third Heathrow runway.
Today expansion proposals have been submitted, making us one step closer to a project that could boost investment and create up to 100k jobs. pic.twitter.com/DQ8x07XXxW
Other airport expansions
Gatwick Airport too, just 64 km away to the south of London, is applying for further development – an application that is widely expected to be approved in October since the government has already made its pro-expansion stance clear by greenlighting works at the capital’s City, Luton and Stansted airports. Plus, on top of the latest announcement, Heathrow is already due to spend £10 billion (€11.5 billion) before 2030 on capacity-building measures – funded through increases to passenger landing charges that have infuriated airlines.
The new plans for Heathrow could still change, however. One of the airport’s landlords, Arora Group, has announced it is set to respond to a government invitation to submit an alternative bid. Its concept would see the addition of a shorter third runway, costing less and said to better protect both the environment and locals – competition British Airways holding group IAG has welcomed and described as “credible.”
