Gatwick Airport could possibly see a second runway expansion rather than Stansted Airport or Heathrow Airport with secret plans being created by the companies who are bidding to purchase the second biggest airport in Britain. On Wednesday of last week, the Competition Commission supported the idea effectively, calling on the government to change their aviation policy. Their statement threatens to reveal state policy during a period when the Cabinet is having a dispute over building a 3^rd runway at the Heathrow Airport.

If Gatwick Airport is to have an expansion, as many as 300 homes would be destroyed. However, the impact on the environment would be significantly less than if the runway expansion is given the go ahead for the Heathrow Airport. Plus, a new runway would mean that another 26,000 residents would be affected by the more than 54 decibels of noise from the planes, which is less than the 118,000 residents close to Heathrow.

It has been discovered that the British Airports Authority has sent a confidential memorandum to bidders with a section about a second runway expansion. The memorandum consists of a map that shows the new runway developed 1 kilometer to the south of the existing runway, which puts it at only 400 meters from Crawley homes. The British Airports Authority says that the land has been safeguarded; it also gives details on how an expansion will increase the maximum capacity of the airport to 80 million passengers from 45 million, whereas Heathrow Airport had 67 million passengers last year.

The government, however, has said that they want the first new runway in the southeast to be developed at the Stansted Airport and the second one to be at the Heathrow Airport. The Competition Commission rebutted that the government is undermining competition while preventing operators the opportunity to respond in accordance with the market.

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