Heathrow prepares third-runway blueprint for Labour amid record passenger numbers

Heathrow is preparing to announce a fresh blueprint for a third runway for the Labour government’s approval as record passenger numbers “strain its system to the maximum”.

The UK’s biggest airport served almost 40 million passengers in the first half of 2024, culminating in its busiest day ever on 30 June.

Its chief executive, Thomas Woldbye, said the London hub would surpass that daily total again this week, and had been encouraged by the new government’s words on aviation and growth .

Woldbye said the airport was looking to get “more capacity out of the existing infrastructure” while also working on new runway plans.

“We will have a blueprint that includes a third runway, and a blueprint that doesn’t, because at the end of the day, there are still many external dependencies for a third runway,” he said. “I think London needs the additional capacity a third runway would provide.”

Woldbye added: “The most urgent is to look at what can we do on capacity within our two runways, because that is what’s facing us tomorrow and the next many years, because a third runway will not be here this year or in the next five or maybe even 10 years.

“We are not ready yet with the concrete decisions on how should that look and what would it be, but we are happy to talk to government about expansion plans. We’re happy that they see the value of aviation overall, and Heathrow in particular.”

Heathrow has officially had government permission to build a third runway since 2018 but legal battles and the huge decline in passenger numbers during Covid temporarily put the controversial scheme off the table.

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has indicated she would support a Heathrow expansion, although official Labour policy is that expansion has to meet “four tests”, spanning economic benefits, pollution, noise and climate targets.

The announcement of revised plans will be on hold during uncertainty over Heathrow’s ownership , Woldbye indicated: “It would make a lot of sense that we have the long-term shareholders in place now that we know that change is coming before we start taking decisions like that.”

Ferrovial, the biggest shareholder, originally looked to exit the airport entirely but now may retain a small stake after the planned sale of its 25% holding to Saudi Arabia and the private equity firm Ardian triggered wider talks. A revised plan put in place last month would result in the new buyers holding a combined 37.5% and Ferrovial owning 5%.

Woldbye said demand for flights looked set to remain high, even if the rapid rate of growth post-Covid did not continue. He said Heathrow had not directly been affected by the recent global IT outage and suffered minimal disruption.

With memories of the difficult summer of 2022 still fresh, Woldbye said the airport was well prepared for record passengers, with 90,000 people now working for companies based at Heathrow. He said the airport would have “I think the highest level of resilience we have ever had”, with punctuality and baggage loading rates improving.

“All of these indicators are giving us hope for a stable summer,” he said, but warned: “When you strain the system to pretty much its maximum, the level of recovery is more difficult if something goes wrong.”