Gatwick lures bidders with talk of second runway

AIRPORT giant BAA is pushing for a second runway at Gatwick.

The company, which is trying to sell the airport in Sussex, has sent confidential documents to potential buyers including one headed "Gatwick builds a second runway".

The revelation is likely to reignite the debate over whether Stansted, Gatwick or Heathrow should be the first to have another runway.

The Competition Commission, which in effect pushed BAA into selling Gatwick, has said that the Government should not be too restrictive and should consider "the ambitions of the new owner of Gatwick airport, including the possibility of a second runway after 2019".

BAA signed a deal with West Sussex County Council in 1979 promising not to construct another runway for four decades. However, at least one bidder - German firm Hochtief AirPort - is said to want to re-open negotiations to start work on a second runway before 2019.

A third runway at Heathrow, if given the go-ahead, is not expected to become operational before 2020 at the earliest.

Developing Gatwick instead is likely to affect fewer residents and to have less of a pollution impact.

Around 26,000 more residents would suffer aircraft noise above 54 decibels, according to experts, compared with 118,000 under the Heathrow expansion blueprint.

The package BAA is sending to bidders for Gatwick includes a map with a second runway around two thirds of a mile south of the existing one and just 400 metres from residential areas of Crawley.

It also explains how Gatwick's capacity could be expanded from 45 million passengers a year to 80 million, compared with the 67 million who used Heathrow last year.

Other organisations interested in buying Gatwick - the second largest in the country - include the Manchester Airports Group, the German airports firm Fraport, Vancouver Airports Authority and US pension funds.