Heathrow to submit final plans for 3rd runway next week: Shorter option now under serious consideration
July 25, 2025
London’s Heathrow Airport is open to building a shorter third runway in order to bring down the monumental construction costs, the hub’s chief executive has said, ahead of the submission of final plans to the government next week.
Heathrow welcomed more passengers in the first six months of 2025 than ever before, hitting a record 39.9 million people, it revealed this week.
The airport has long argued that it needs another runway to add capacity and reduce delays.
The west London hub will submit its proposal for a third runway to ministers no later than July 31.
Heathrow expansion plans
Airlines have been critical of how the expansion plan could lead to higher airport fees, which in turn would trigger an increase in ticket prices.
Reports now suggest the airport will include options for a shorter runway that would not impact the M25, one of the most costly elements of the proposal. Plans for a longer runway would involve putting the M25 into a tunnel.
“We want to build what our airline customers want to use. They’re the ones flying aircraft from the runway, we’re not,” Thomas Woldbye was quoted as saying.
“If they can live with different configurations, we’ll be discussing that. There’s no reason to build something we don’t need.”
Heathrow says its plan would be entirely privately financed. “Depending on the Government’s response, we would aim to meet their ambition to secure planning permission in this Parliament and for the runway to be operational by 2035,” the airport said.
“New capacity would boost competition and choice for consumers, drive economic growth for the UK and improve operational resilience at the UK’s hub airport.”
The Financial Times reported in March that one option on the table was building a shorter third runway.
Like Gatwick’s proposal for a shorter northern runway, a third, truncated strip at Heathrow would limit the operational flexibility of the airport. For example, heavier widebodies may be unable to use the runway, or it could be used tactically, for example, only for arrivals in certain conditions.
Executives have acknowledged the runway would still cost billions and be far more expensive than similar projects elsewhere, largely due to the airport’s location and surrounding infrastructure.
Heathrow plots terminal expansion, with or without a third runway
Separately, Heathrow revealed this month that it is set to undergo its most substantial transformation in more than a decade with a privately funded £10 billion investment programme that will increase capacity by 10 million passengers a year, before any new runway is built.
The plan, which covers the period to 2031, focuses on expanding terminal space that would see passenger numbers grow to 92 million annually within five years.
This includes new lounges, restaurants, and retail outlets across an area of 70,000 square metres.
The work will also involve major upgrades to infrastructure, such as the demolition of the now-defunct Terminal 1, the extension of Terminal 2, and the construction of a new southern road tunnel to improve access.
Virgin Atlantic criticised the proposal, saying “only Heathrow, with its monopoly power as the UK’s only hub airport, would think that this £10bn investment plan represents value for money”.
IAG, the parent company of British Airways, Heathrow’s biggest customer, said the plan “requires significant revision” and described the uptick in fees as “excessive, particularly given that Heathrow is already the most expensive airport in the world and this plan does not increase capacity”.
