Air traffic: Heathrow Airport is planning expansion for 57 billion euros

For a total of £ 49 billion, Heathrow Airport is to be modernized and expanded in the coming years. That is the equivalent of around 57 billion euros. The core project is the construction of a 3,500 meter long third runway, as the airport announced. This should therefore cost around £ 21 billion alone.

With the third runway, which can be completed within ten years, the airport wants to provide the information up to 276,000 additional flights. The M25 motorway had to be moved to a tunnel under the new runway. A lot should also change in the terminals and the infrastructure, the largest British airport should change, the older terminals are to be demolished or modernized.

In the future, the airport plans to cope with 756,000 flights and 150 million passengers a year. Measured by the passengers, Heathrow is already the largest airport in Europe. Last year, the airport counted around 83.9 million passengers. For comparison: In 2024, 61.6 million passengers were counted on the largest German airport in Frankfurt/Main.

The debate about the expansion of the huge airport has been going on for years and also causes criticism. An opponent of the plans is the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. According to the British news agency PA, Khan said that he rejected the expansion because of the “significant effects” in relation to “noise, air pollution and reaching our climate goals”. The town hall of the British capital will examine the plans, he announced.

In contrast, the airport should be happy about approval within the British government. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves, who had already spoken out for a third runway in January, said PA said that the expansion of the airport would promote investments in the UK and create up to 100,000 jobs. Transport Minister Heidi Alexander announced that he wanted to check the plans for the summer.