Heathrow warns third runway may be delayed to 2039

September 26, 2026 at 07:03 PM2 min

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Heathrow 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, estimated to cost £49bn, would open by 2035. Heathrow now sees this deadline as increasingly difficult to deliver without further steps to simplify the planning process.

Key Facts

Heathrow 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, estimated to cost £49bn, would open by 2035.
Heathrow said it hoped to secure planning permission by 2029 and then open the runway within a decade.
The project is expected to create around 100,000 jobs and provide a major boost to the economy.
The number of flights from the airport, currently capped at 480,000 a year, could go up to 720,000.

Project Timeline

Heathrow 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 £49bn, would open by 2035. Heathrow sees this deadline as increasingly difficult to deliver without further steps to simplify the planning process. The airport said on Saturday that it hoped to secure planning permission by 2029 and then open the runway within a decade. The Department for Transport said the project's timeline had always been ambitious and that it would continue to work with stakeholders at pace.

Government and Political Response

Former chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the government's support for the project in January 2025. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who was previously critical, said he was open-minded about the scheme when he came to office. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has always opposed the project, warning of the impact on noise, air pollution and climate change. A consultation on the expansion was published in June this year, and once finalised, it needs to be put to a parliamentary vote, which could reportedly be delayed until 2027.

Economic and Environmental Impact

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. 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 airport, currently capped at 480,000 a year, could go up to 720,000, or nearly 2,000 a day on average. A Heathrow spokesperson said the benefits of expansion can be felt from today, with at least 108,000 new jobs and billions of pounds invested in supply chains in every part of the country.