Gatwick expansion highlights the contradiction at the heart of UK aviation policy
Safe Landing feature in this Skift article by Tasmin Lockwood: https://skift.com/2026/08/05/gatwick-is-set-to-expand-and-so-will-its-carbon-footprint/
Gatwick’s £2.2 billion Northern Runway expansion has cleared its latest legal challenge, paving the way for up to 100,000 additional flights a year and capacity for as many as 80 million passengers.
Skift reports that campaigners have warned the expansion could add nearly 1 million tonnes of emissions per year, while the UK Government continues to argue that airport growth can be compatible with its climate goals through measures including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
Finlay Asher, aerospace engineer and think tank lead at Safe Landing, challenges that premise. He argues that SAF cannot be scaled to the quantities needed to meet the Government’s targets and that airport expansion will make it harder for the UK to deliver its carbon reductions.
Our wider message is that aviation policy should focus on zero-carbon and hybrid-powered aircraft and genuine decarbonisation, rather than expanding conventional aviation capacity. However, Gatwick’s current expansion plans are not suitable for such aircraft. Read, listen to and watch our input to the public inquiry about Gatwick Airport Expansion: https://safe-landing.org/gatwick-airport-inquiry/
Finlay’s quotes from the article
“This is nonsense — sustainable aviation fuels will cost multiple billions per year and cannot conceivably be scaled-up sustainability to the quantities required to meet the government’s 10% by 2030 targets — even if far more money was chucked at it.”
“The whole ‘SAF’ thing is just a trick to continue business-as-usual for as long as possible, rather than try to actually do something sustainable.”
“Aviation is on track to become the largest emitting sector of the UK economy before 2040.”
“This will surely have a material impact on the UK Government’s ability to meet its carbon reduction targets.”
“British aviation’s future lies in innovation, not outdated expansion.”
“We should boost the economy by developing the clean technology of tomorrow instead of building airport terminals for conventional aircraft.”