Britain’s biggest airport, Heathrow Airport, will reveal its third runway scheme for the first time officially. This development is witnessed currently amid record passenger numbers occupied in the airport, putting existing facilities under pressure.

Heathrow groaned under the weight of nearly 40 million passengers in the first six months of 2024. The airport had its busiest day ever on June 30. Thomas Woldbye, the CEO of Heathrow, pointed out that his airport would probably break its own record again very soon. He hoped that his plans would be embraced by the new Labour government.

Woldbye pointed out that Heathrow is working on using the two present runways in a much more efficient way at present. It is simultaneously working on the concept of the third runway. He said, “We will have a plan that includes a third runway and one that doesn’t. The need for a third runway is important for London but we still have to deal with many external factors”.

The first thing the airport should do now is improving the use of the existing runways. According to Woldbye, the third runway will not happen in this year or the next five or even ten years. However, Heathrow welcomes a conversation about expansion with the government. He noted that it is crucial there’s understanding of the airport by the government.

Heathrow was given the official green light to build a third runway in 2018, by the government. But several legal challenges and a dramatic fall in passenger numbers as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic have seen the plans put on ice. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has previously supported an expanded Heathrow, but Labour’s official policy is that any expansion must pass four tests. They must bring economic benefits, provide control on pollution, reduce noise and meet climate goals.

This makes any proper decisions for Heathrow quite uncertain at the moment, its ownership in limbo. Woldbye claimed that “There is a lot of uncertainty but one thing is clear: you need to have stable, long-term shareholders before you can rethink your strategy”. The airport’s biggest shareholder, Ferrovial, with 25% stake, has planned to sell this share to Saudi Arabia and private equity firm Ardian. But under recent changes, Ferrovial may be able to keep a percentage of those shares, with 37.5 percent of the shares going to new buyers.
Woldbye said that he believes demand for flights will remain high even though the fast growth that has been experienced since COVID-19 hit is starting to level off. Heathrow has not suffered the IT problems that have beset some other international airports, and it has managed the disruptions its has had to minimal levels.

This summer seems to be presenting itself as another of high pressure, but the airport was ready for it. There were currently 90,000 people employed in companies at the Heathrow base. Woldbye feels this has resulted in the airport being “the highest level of resilience we have ever had,” with the improvements in punctuality and baggage handling experiencing an uplift.

There is cautious optimism at Heathrow for a relatively stable summer, but Woldbye did warn that, once the airport has been pushed to its limits, things have a tendency to go wrong and recovery is troublesome.

In conclusion, Heathrow is increasing its capacity to handle more passengers, and the possibility of a new runway is in view. Though not void of uncertainties and challenges, the airport has its attention on the very many different aspects of improvements in its operational measures being taken at present, subsequent to the future growth envisaged for it.