[arista]

[Gatwick Airport is pressing ahead with plans
to use its emergency runway for routine flights.
It aims to convert its standby runway by 2029
despite passenger number dropping
due to the global pandemic.
A public consultation on the proposals,
which were first announced in October 2018,
is due to open on 9 September.
Local campaigners called the plans "despicable",
after concerns were previously
raised over noise, congestion and air quality.
Under the plans, the emergency runway - which
is currently used as a taxiway or
when the main runway is closed - would be
used for departures of smaller planes.
It would enable Gatwick to boost its annual
passenger capacity from 62m to 75m by 2038.

About 1m passengers travelled through
Gatwick in the first seven months
of this year, with the South terminal
at the West Sussex airport remaining closed.

That total was reached after just 10 days in 2019.
Gatwick Airport]


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-58331705

[Cherie]

Really....now .....of all times.... could this announcement not have waited