Heathrow Airport delays third runway expansion until 2039

Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) has announced that its £49bn expansion plan, which includes the construction of a third runway, has been delayed from an original 2035 target to 2039. The developer aims to secure planning permission by 2029, with the goal of having the runway operational within a decade of approval. The massive project intends to increase passenger capacity by 50%, accommodating up to 150 million travellers annually through new terminals and significant infrastructure upgrades.

Surinder Arora, the billionaire hotel tycoon leading the rival ‘Heathrow West’ bid, has challenged the feasibility of the revised timeline. Citing research commissioned by his group and several airlines, Arora claims the HAL proposal is unlikely to be operational before 2042. He argued that the scale of the design, which involves building over the M25 motorway and relocating local lakes, makes the 2039 target impossible to meet.