Getty ImagesHeathrow Airport has warned that its planned third runway might be delayed by four years due to planning and regulatory issues.
The government had hoped the new runway at the UK’s busiest airport, estimated to cost £33bn, would open by 2035.
But Heathrow sees this deadline as increasingly difficult to deliver without further steps to simplify the planning process. It said on Saturday that it hoped to secure planning permission by 2029 and then open the runway “within a decade”.
The Department for Transport (DfT) said the project’s timeline had “always been ambitious” and that it would continue to work with stakeholders “at pace” on the matter.
It said it was encouraged by the chancellor’s efforts to streamline infrastructure and remove regulatory bottlenecks, and promised to continue to work with ministers, airlines and stakeholders to “progress the planning application with pace”.
Former chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the government’s support for the project in January 2025 as a means to grow the economy, and Prime Minister Andy Burnham – who was previously critical – said he was “open-minded” about the scheme when he came to office.
Despite attracting wide opposition from environmental campaigners and local resident groups, the project is expected to create around 100,000 jobs and provide a major boost to the economy as part of a wider £49bn modernisation of the airport.
The expansion would mean demolishing hundreds of homes, diverting rivers, and rerouting the M25 motorway between junctions 14 and 15 through a tunnel under the new runway.
The number of flights from the site, currently capped at 480,000 a year, could go up to 720,000 – or nearly 2,000 a day on average.
Heathrow AirportLondon Mayor Sadiq Khan has always opposed the new runway, warning of the impact on noise, air pollution and climate change.
The government’s climate advisers warned last week that the expansion should only go ahead if airlines were required to pay for cleaner flying, which could push up the cost of flights.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the advisers had set out “one view” but there was “more than one pathway to meeting our climate change obligations”, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph published on Friday.
A draft of the planning framework for the expansion was published in June this year for consultation. Once finalised, it then needs to be put to a parliamentary vote, which could reportedly be delayed until 2027.
A DfT spokesperson said: “There is currently no live planning application for a third runway, and we cannot comment on ongoing consultation processes or prejudice them in a way that will only delay progress.
“The timeline has always been ambitious. We’ll continue to work with promoters, including Heathrow, and all other stakeholders at pace to ensure the right framework is in place for which a planning application for a third runway could be considered.”
A spokesperson for Heathrow said: “It’s right that ambitious targets were set; the sooner expansion begins, the sooner the whole UK will benefit.”
They said the benefits would involve “at least 108,000 new jobs and billions of pounds invested in supply chains in every part of the country”.
“This is a national project, 100% privately financed which will support growth today and secure the UK’s position in the global economy once the runway opens.”
Heathrow is the UK’s busiest airport, serving more than 80 million travellers a year with its four passenger terminals and two runways.
Correction 26 September: An earlier version of this story said the runway was estimated to cost £49bn. It has been updated to reflect that this figure is the total amount of investment planned for the airport, including £33bn for the runway.
