BUSINESS NEWS


Gatwick’s Stewart Wingate says the


government has ‘outlined a clear pathway to full approval’ despite the


airport’s expansion plan facing a further eight months’ evaluation


Gatwick says deferral ‘offers clear pathway’


Analysis: Airport still confident of runway green light. Ian Taylor reports Aviation leaders were delighted.


A magician was due to appear at this week’s Corporate Travel Summit in London on Thursday – the first joint conference of the Business Travel Association (BTA) and Advantage Global Business Travel – and it’s tempting to think a magician was involved in the government announcement of expansion at Gatwick last week. One minute expansion appeared


on the cards; the next, no one was quite sure. When transport secretary Heidi Alexander addressed an Airlines UK


64 6 MARCH 2025


dinner in London on February 25, she could hardly have delivered a message sweeter to industry ears. The government would “do all we


can to support the sector and take the brakes off growth”, she said. She referred to “planning


applications for Gatwick and Luton on my desk” and said: “I have no intention of clipping anyone’s wings”. Alexander argued: “We could


pretend people don’t want to fly . . . or that aviation isn’t critical to the economy, but we would be detaching ourselves from reality.”


A go-ahead for Gatwick expansion was confidently expected. Statements welcoming a go-ahead were prepared. But on February 27, Alexander


announced something subtly different to MPs, saying she was “issuing a minded-to-approve decision that provides additional time to seek views from all parties, prior to a final decision”. She kicked the can down the road for eight months to October 27 after


Continued on page 62 travelweekly.co.uk


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