The future of London's Airports: Your Thoughts?

[ryanfairellis97]

I don't know about the rest of you but the topic of London airport expansion is a topic that comes up a lot especially in the UK (Where I Live).
It has been a heavily debated topic for many years with several proposals for more runway capacity put forward over the years, including a new HUB Airport in the Thames Estuary, however it has now been boiled down to three possible options that are considered to be best for UK-International trade, job creation and ultimately, most profitable.

Option 1: Extend the existing north runway at London Heathrow, the UK's largest airport. This option would allow aircraft to both land and takeoff from the same runway at the same time.
Option 2: Build a brand new runway North West of the current Heathrow site. This would be the most costly option however offer the largest capacity boost to London.
Option 3: Build a new second runway at London's Gatwick airport. (Personally my favorite option) Unlike both options at Heathrow this will have a much smaller impact on the local environment in terms of air quality and noise pollution. It would also affect the least amount of people, however it is not the favored option among some groups who don't think it will provide as much of an economic boost and increase global connections like the Heathrow options.

Below is two maps of the proposed plans at both airports. At a quick glance I would like to know what option would be most beneficial.

Heathrow is currently the UK's biggest airport and the main transport Hub into the UK. The airport is operating at 98% capacity, with little room for mistakes or delays. The airport currently offers flights to 185 destinations in 84 countries. (Data taken from Heathrow Website)

Gatwick is currently the UK's 2nd largest airport and also operates the worlds busiest single runway airport. The airport helps make 42 million passengers journeys to 220 destinations in 90 countries across the world. The airport is rapidly growing, in 2013 Emirates introduced a daily A380 flight to Dubai, and now the airline operate the A380 between Gatwick and Dubai three times daily. It has also seen budget airlines such as Easyjet and Norwegian grow at the airport. Norwegian now operate flights to New York and LA to name a couple. In 2016 alone WestJet and Air Canada have begun offering daily flights to Canada, BA operating direct flights to New York and Cathay Pacific offering flights to Hong Kong. In addition to this rapid growth BA and Virgin Atlantic are set to offer more international destinations such as Johannesburg in the near future.

Below is two maps of the proposed runway plans at both London Heathrow and Gatwick.

I would love to hear everyone thoughts.....Please leave your opinions below and answer the poll at the top of the thread. Thank You.


Gatwick Airport Plans

[ryanfairellis97]

Update:

UK Government pledge that new third runway will be built at Heathrow airport to the North West of the current site. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37760187

[Dokhu]

I would like to see the Norman ´Foster's mega airport on an artificial island in the River Thames estuary "London Britannia Airport".

[ryanfairellis97]

I know, that would have been expensive but a very good option. Thus was ruled out quite early in the selection process, however Ithe would have affected much less people. With the current Heathrow plan 700 homes would be destroyed and thousands of people relocated or susceptible to aircraft noise and pollution. This is how close some people currentlyou live to the Heathrow flight path.

[asianmattdog]

Why complain when you can snap photos like that everyday? lol

But nah, Heathrow needs to expand. This is probably the best route to take for the long-run.