Let's start with what air traffic represents at London. Last year, thehe British capital confirmed its European leadership in the number of passengers handled at its airports: 177.679 million.. Heathrow airport alone generates 47.18% of all passengers registered at London's five airports. Last year, its traffic exceeded that of the pre-Covid period, with 83.835 million passengers.
It is followed by Gatwick with 43.248 million (24.34% market share), Stansted 29.76 million (16.74%), Luton with 16.736 million (9.42%) and the City Airport with over 4.1 million passengers (2.32% market share).
Such a high density of airports is much appreciated by the business community. According to a survey by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, four out of five London decision-makers agree that air connectivity is important for London's global competitiveness (83 %)international trade (82 %), the London economy as a whole (82 %) and establishing and maintaining international trade relations (79 %).
The outlook for demand is considered to be very favourable. London's airports are therefore preparing to welcome more than 250 million potential passengers. over the next decade. Including 140 million for Heathrow airport alone.
Heathrow
The UK government recently announced its support for the construction of a third runway at Heathrow.A development that airlines have been impatiently awaiting for years. British Airways in particular.
This third runway is a veritable sea serpent, with the authorities talking about it since 2009. Since then, both political and legal obstacles have delayed any decision. But this time it seems to be the right one.
Especially as the British government has finally ruled out the idea of a brand new airport on the Thames estuary, an idea put forward by Boris Johnson. The development of the third runway at Heathrow appears to be a less costly solution. It has just received the full support of the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves. The third runway will generate some 100,000 new jobs and contribute £211 billion to the UK economy.. The runway could allow Heathrow to accept up to 720,000 aircraft movements per year. Compared with 480,000 at present. For passengers, the third runway will mean more long-haul flights. These are 122 destinations compared with 82 at present.
In addition to this extra runway, Heathrow is also working on a project for a new terminal and an integrated station for long-distance trains.
However, the third option is not for tomorrow. The government will be looking at all the proposals until the summer before drawing its conclusions. The project must take into account strict climatic, environmental and legal considerations. And then there's the cost of the investment. A few years ago, it was estimated at £14 billion. It's a safe bet that it's likely to have risen...
Gatwick
South London Airport dreamed above all of transferring its northern runway, which was too close to the main runway to be used. Today, the hub has achieved a real feat: that of welcoming more than 40 million passengers on a single runway receiving 55 movements per hour.
By moving the track 12 metres, the group Vincithe airport owner, believes that the airport will be able to handle 75 million passengers a year by the end of the 2030s. The airport has resumed work on the expansion of its Pier 6 in the North Terminal. This will enable 8 additional aircraft to be handled, giving it a capacity of one million additional passengers.
In the longer term, Gatwick wants to expand the boarding area in the North and South terminals by an average of 10,000 m². It is now up to the government to decide whether or not to give the green light to these various expansion projects.
Stansted
The aim is to be able to cope by the beginning of the next decade with traffic of 43 million passengers. The North London hub continues to attract low-cost airlines from all over the world. It is now Ryanair basethe largest operator at Stansted, with 56 aircraft and a hundred or so destinations. The airline has also just announced that it will be launching a route to Clermont-Ferrand this spring.
London Stansted has set itself big ambitions. This year, the airport is embarking on work to extend its single terminal building. The estimated cost of £600 million is part of a historic £1.1 billion investment plan, recently confirmed by the government.
The work is due to be completed around 2030. It plans to create additional capacity on the tarmac side, with a wide gallery linked directly to the satellites. Passengers will find shops, restaurants and bars as well as relaxation areas. On the city side, the redevelopment will add new check-in counters and additional security and immigration posts. The airport will also install an additional baggage carousel.
Luton
London's northernmost airport (48 km) is also looking to grow. Launched in 2017, an expansion plan includes the construction of a new terminal buildingTerminal 2, as well as the extension of Terminal 1 and the construction of new aircraft taxiways. The new infrastructure will enable Luton tohandle 32 million passengers a year... without building a second runway. The airport's current capacity is estimated at a maximum of 18 million passengers, a figure that the hub should reach by 2026 at the latest. The first phase of work on Terminal 1 would immediately increase Luton's capacity to 21 million passengers.
The airport authorities predict continued growth for the airport, which in fact serves the university cities of Cambridge and Oxford and is at the heart of a vast aeronautical industry. EasyJet has its head office here. The airport is also a good alternative to other hubs, being only 32 minutes by train from London Saint Pancras station.
City Airport
Le London City Airport gets the green light from the government to welcome Airbus A320neo aircraft. The larger passenger capacity would enable the airport to increase its theoretical capacity from 6.5 to 9 million. With no increase in movements, capped at 111,000 aircraft per year.
