Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the proportion of potential capacity at Heathrow Airport which will be unfilled when a new third runway is operational.

A third runway at Heathrow is expected to become operational in 2026 subject to the Government’s consultation on a draft National Policy Statement and the planning process. In its Strategic Fit: Forecasts report, the Airports Commission (AC) published its assessment of how much capacity at the expanded Heathrow could be used.

Capacity is dependent on the level of future aviation demand. The AC therefore considered five alternate demand scenarios. Across these scenarios, Heathrow could reach full capacity by 2035, but in the lowest demand scenario, capacity may not be fully used until 2042.