London Gatwick Airport has received the final legal clearance to proceed with its Northern Runway project after the Court of Appeal dismissed legal challenges against the scheme.
The ruling upholds the decision made by the UK Secretary of State for Transport in September 2025 to grant development consent for the project, bringing to a close an eight-year planning and legal process.
The legal challenges had been brought by two campaign groups seeking to overturn the approval. However, the Court of Appeal rejected the appeals, confirming that the government’s decision to approve the development had been made lawfully.
The Northern Runway project will enable Gatwick to routinely use its existing standby runway alongside the airport’s main runway by repositioning the northern runway and carrying out associated infrastructure works. Unlike the construction of a new runway, the project centres on adapting existing airport infrastructure to increase operational capacity.
According to London Gatwick, the scheme is expected to support the creation of around 14,000 jobs and contribute an estimated 1 billion GBP annually to the UK economy through increased business activity, tourism and trade. The airport has also committed to delivering employment, skills and business initiatives intended to benefit communities across the Gatwick region.
Pierre-Hugues Schmit, Chief Executive of London Gatwick, said:Today's Court of Appeal decision to comprehensively reject the legal challenges brought by the two campaign groups opposing London Gatwick’s Northern Runway Project, confirms, yet again, that the September 2025 decision by the Secretary of State for Transport to approve the Northern Runway Project was taken properly and lawfully. We are also very pleased that this ruling, from senior Court of Appeal Judges, brings to an end an eight-year planning and legal process which has carefully tested and scrutinised every aspect of our expansion plans on multiple occasions.
This final ruling means that we can now press on with the important job of bringing this exciting project to life and move forward into the design and delivery phase. We would like to thank everyone who has supported our planning application through the various stages and will announce further details in due course.
The Northern Runway project forms part of Gatwick’s long-term plans to increase passenger capacity by making regular use of both of its runways while remaining within the airport’s existing boundaries. The scheme includes upgrades to taxiways, terminal facilities, road access and supporting infrastructure alongside measures covering noise, surface transport and environmental management.
