Expansion Capacity of UK Airports: Heathrow vs Gatwick

This article discusses the expansion capacity of UK airports, specifically Heathrow and Gatwick. It explores the responses of airlines to the expansion options and the potential impacts on passenger welfare. The challenges faced by airports, such as land-use availability and regulatory obligations, are also discussed.

Part A
Introduction
The planning of airport is one of the complex disciplines that involve several key elements. All
the elements are expected to be dealt with caution, this is because each point represents a vital
point that may either fail or make the airport successful project. Each element has a specified and
varied impact on the plan of the airport processes. The elements include; land use, legal
regulations, future market, local communities, surface access and operations requirement. The
airport plans are normally designed in a master plan document. The objective of the master plan
would mainly be to provide future airport guideline which would be expected to satisfy the
demand of aviation in a feasible financial system.
Access discussion questions
1. Why Leeds airport wants to build a new runway?
2. Why Leeds airport is it low rated?’
3. Why and what makes Manchester airport the best’?
Compare/contrast your own regional airport with other regional airport in terms of
current characteristics and features, such as traffic, runway, taxiways, terminals,
catchment area,
Leeds Bradford Airport is located at Yeadon, in the City of Leeds Metropolitan District in West
Yorkshire, England, about 7 miles northwest of Leeds city center itself, about 9 miles from
Bradford city center, whereas Manchester airport is located in greater Manchester in South-West.
Leeds Bradford Airport catchment area contains 5.3m people, 2.9m of whom live less than one
hour from the airport, while Manchester airport catchment area is about 22 million passengers,
where 60% of its international business due travel across the North.
There are numerous routes served by Leeds Bradford Airport which includes; Alicante (ALC),
Almeria (LEI), Antalya (AYT), Barcelona (BCN), Bodrum (BJV), Corfu (CFU) and many more,
whereas Manchester airport its major destinations includes; Dubai, Alicante, Malaga,
Amsterdam, Tenerife, Paris, Palma De Mallorca, Orlando, Faro and many more.

Compare/contrast the way the different airports envisage their future in terms of traffic
(aviation activities), non-aviation activities (businesses developed on the airport grounds)
and possibly accessibility (rail or road access)
The airport serves over 3.5 million passengers every year in average. The aim by 2030 is to serve
over 6 million passengers per annum with improved accessibility and services, whereas traffic
Manchester in 15 to 30 years is projected to handle over 60, 000 passengers per hectare.
Leeds Bradford airport aims to add other long haul airlines such as KQ and many other African
airlines for provision of direct flights to Africa and South American countries, whereas
Manchester airport aims at developing additional long – haul services to leisure market and key
business that included Africa, The US and Asia.
Leeds Bradford airport aims at changing its mode of operation to standard arrival routes
(STARs) and the changes are initiated by future airspace initiative (FASI), whereas Manchester
airport aims at improving its business activities through, developing route networking, adhering
to air traffic rights, developing capacity at the airport, improving its transport and expanding the
airport.
Leeds Bradford airport aims at attracting more budget airlines such as Easyjet, aiming to attract
large numbers of short haul low-cost passengers, whereas Manchester airport developed
additional long – haul services to leisure market and key business that included Africa, The US
and Asia (Maertens, S., 2010).
Assess how similar or different would the different UK regional airport plans be, and what
their priorities are. You can talk about aeronautical or non-aeronautical planning, railway
stations, linking to a high speed network, etc.
Leeds Bradford airport is planning to seek permission for development of terminal and extension
or upgrade existing one to cater for the number of flights, upgrade terminal baggage technology
and offer beverages by upgrading terminal lounges, whereas Manchester airport is planning to
expand its airport through offering more direct services for freight, offering 20,000 direct jobs
and 25,000 indirect jobs, expanding its terminal 2 and improving its terminal 3 (Ison, Francis,
Humphreys and Page, 2011).
Leeds Bradford airport is proposing to improve direct railway connections such as proposed
construction of Parkway station to increase number of passengers, whereas Manchester airport is
proposing to improve its hub railway system and transpennine railway network (Merkert, Smith
and Nash, 2012).
Leeds Bradford airport is planning to build new runway to accommodate increased number
flights per day and offer expected changes of standardizing airport operations, whereas

Manchester airport is planning to build two runways (Müller-Rosti, Niemeier, Ivanova, Müller,
Hannak and Ehmer,2010)
Leeds Bradford airport is planning to build more hotels, restaurants and retail services by
allowing private investors to invest in develops kiosks and other facilities, similarly Manchester
airport is planning to build more hotels and its shopping centers.
Leeds Bradford airport is planning to develop a new car park to cater for increased number of
passengers; similarly Manchester airport is planning to build new car parks that would cater for
the increased passengers’ number.
Leeds Bradford airport is planning to construct new access road to link both major highways
A65 and A68, similarly Manchester airport is planning to improve its surface access to the
airport.
You should compare your airport with other airports in terms of stakeholder impacts,
taking into consideration both positive and negative impacts
Leeds Bradford airport believes that the growth and development of Leeds-Bradford Airport is
underpinned by engaging the local community, stakeholders and the relevant authorities. It is
only through open and valuable engagements and partnerships of above named organizations
will the airport realize the aspects of this strategic plan, similarly Manchester airport engages the
government, its neighbors, its customers, its transport providers, its regional agencies and airline
operators to realize its goals and objectives and ensure that every service is provided efficiently.
You should conclude on why you think your airport could be a good alternative to London,
in comparison to other airports in the debate.
The growth and development of Leeds-Bradford Airport is underpinned by engaging the local
community, stakeholders and the relevant authorities. It is only through open and valuable
engagements and partnerships of above named organizations will the airport realize the aspects
of this strategic plan.
Improving the infrastructure and streamlining operations of the airport will at the end serve a
larger purpose including easing traffic congestion, better services and facilities to the local

community, creation of employment opportunities and revolutionizing airport operations all over
the world (Cox, 2018).
Leeds-Bradford Airport has been for competing with top rated airports in the UK and the world
accordingly, this strategic will only serve to put its image in the world map of aviation industry.
Leeds-Bradford Airport is still behind giant airports in the UK such as Liverpool and Manchester
airports and in terms of total number of passenger and total flights per year. In 2018 Leeds-
Bradford Airport served over 4 million passengers while operating over 38000 flights while
Manchester and Liverpool airports served 28 million and 5 million respectively. With this
proposed strategic development plan Leeds-Bradford Airport sets achievable target of getting to
the levels of Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle and maybe surpassing them.
Leeds-Bradford Airport plans in operating budget of aircrafts that would bring cheaper flights
that would be able to increased number of passengers through paying moderate cost.
Discussion
Leeds airport wants to build new runway because this will allow the airport to increase daily
number of flights also increasing number of passengers and allowing larger aircrafts’
The reason why Leeds airport is lowly rated is because not many developments were previously
made, however by 2030 future plans the airport sets achievable targets to reach the same level as
other airports in the UK which will improve the overall airport rating with the new services and
facilities.
Manchester airport is the best airport because it has improved system each of the following
departments; land use, legal regulations, future market, local communities, surface access and
operations requirement.

PART B
Introduction
The three expansion option capacity of UK airports includes; first option, expanding Gatwick
and increasing number of its runway, second option, expanding Heathrow runway capacity. The
expansion of the welfare of both the air freight users and passengers would not only depend on
aviation industry and macro-economic future, but also on responses that would be expected at
airline when there is large passengers’ capacity (Wolfe, Kramer and Barrett, 2017).
The expansion capacity of both Heathrow and Gatwick would enable the airline to react
differently, this may be through change of macro-economic conditions, development of business
models overtime and impact of the new aircraft on the industry on how it would affect potential
unfolding responses of the airlines. Gatwick additional runway would ensure the airline responds
to either develop gateway that would be of low cost or expansion of services conventional points
at Gatwick (Bubalo, 2010)
Heathrow additional runway would improve the predominance hub operations and in other cases
it would focus on the growth and increase airport services convectional points. The two forms of
responses would be considered a representative outcome expansion capacity at Heathrow or
Gatwick.
The responses if they would be combined with other relevant scenarios of aviation demand that
would have been developed by the airport commission would result to socio-economic impact on
welfare. The four responses include;
Expansion of Heathrow
 Response of airline outcome 1: This includes growth of Heathrow hub carrier, growth of
convectional points services at Gatwick in combination to Airport commission
assessment scenario
 Response of airline outcome 2: Growth of convectional points services at Heathrow and
Gatwick, sustainability of Heathrow network hub in combination to Airport commission
assessment at low cost
Expansion of Gatwick
 Response of airline outcome 3: Partnership that involves low cost at Gatwick gateway,
sustainability of Heathrow network hub in combination to Airport commission
assessment at low cost
 Response of airline outcome 4: Growth of convectional points services at Gatwick,
sustainability of Heathrow network hub in combination to Airport commission
assessment in Europe relative decline.

The estimation of the airline outcome responses in terms of competition gain, connectivity gain
and reductions gains in rent scarcity to benefit passengers, with minimum Landon airport
capacity system. Formulation of responses of airline beyond 2030 has been projected that it
would reduce significantly the airport credibility, since it would exert uncertainty on the models
of businesses, performance of airline finance, level of cost and individual survival carrier would
be extremely large.
The demand growth would be delayed under the scenario of Europe declination; the overall
outcome would be beneficial to passengers from expansion capacity that would accrue after 2035
on response of airline outcome 4. The aviation responses scenario would be evaluated according
to impacts of passengers’ welfare that would relate to connectivity gains, competition levels
change and low fares. The scarcity on fares would result when the demand of the potential would
exceed the capacity of the physical airport to accommodate seats supplied by the airlines as
experienced at Heathrow and Gatwick.
The airline fares would accrue when the prices of the tickets would be increased in order to
balance demand and supply and clear the market. The expansion of airlines would reduce the
scarcity rent, lower the revenue and airfares. The welfare would mainly rise from lowering the
cost of travelling for both the non-residential and UK residents that would result from the
expansion of the capacity runway at Heathrow or Gatwick and responses that unfold at airline.
Major challenges that the airports are facing

Land-use / space availability
Airports would require very large land or sites, since they need runway spaces, terminal building,
hangars maintenance and parking sections. The runway is regarded as the most pivotal air
transportation element, since it determines the system capacity. Though there are various
variations of airport sizes, the minimum recommended size should always be excess of 500
hectares, this would represent enormous urban land. The airports are also recommended to be at
the periphery of urban areas to increase the urban economies and its only there that sufficient
lands would be available. As in the case of Leeds Bradford Airport is located at Yeadon, in the
City of Leeds Metropolitan District in West Yorkshire, England, about 7 miles northwest of
Leeds city center itself, about 9 miles from Bradford city center (Dearborn and Kark, 2010).
Political / stakeholder related decisions
The government and all its levels would potentially involve in development of airport since all
the elements which would include transportation, land use and nuisance would play a vital
attention on political boundaries and because the indirect and direct cost of the facilities of
airport would be spread on the jurisdiction of the government (Walker, 2010).
Coordination of planning area of airport by the government would normally be challenging since
always the government would be the source of the airports funds. As in the case of Leeds
Bradford airport believes that the growth and development of Leeds-Bradford Airport is
underpinned by engaging the local community, stakeholders and the relevant authorities.
Regulatory / Legal obligations
The participations of federal government on airport development would be limited on the act of
federal airport to be able to implement the plan of national airport. Its jurisdictions would not
extend to broad areas of developing the airport, operations and management. It involves only on
financial basis when it is initiated as sponsor and under specified airport boundaries elements
(Schaar and Sherry, 2010).
Regional and metropolitan agencies plays a vital role of preparing airport area wide system
plans, by the passage of Metropolitan development act they are granted authorities of reviewing
and commenting on public facilities proposals of regional airports (Guerra, 2016)
Environmental / sustainability related planning
The airport development permits special considerations in process of planning to be able to
achieve its specified sustainability goals and objects that includes (Ison, Merkert and Mulley,
2014.);
 Provision of efficient and quick airport access by all users
 Minimization of airport nuisance effects on its surrounding

 Minimization of airport operation restricted places by developing the surroundings
 Taking impact advantage of the airport on development of land.
In this case Leeds-Bradford Airport ensures that measures are put in place in mitigation and
management of noise, they include plan to restrict airport operations to handle aircrafts which are
quitter. Improving and constructing proper drainage for surface water, putting procedures in
ensuring the ecology of catchment area is conserved and improving facilities monitoring
pollution to ensure early and proper action plan
Economic and financial aspects
The world is currently experiencing unprecedented economic, the industries across the world are
all experiencing slow economic effect and business flow effect. The confidence of consumers
and demand has made the organization lose their advantage while others struggle to survive.
The challenges of economy that would face the airports on global instability on finance would
always be complex and diverse and this has given the airport opportunities of revaluating their
business strategies. Despite the challenges the aviation industry would always seek long term
sustainability while managing its short term economic challenges (Graham, 2013).
The aviation industry has shown that it has a resilience ways of overcoming its financial
challenges and creation of new economic opportunities for the future (Button, 2010).
Conclusion
The growth and development of Leeds-Bradford Airport is underpinned by engaging the local
community, stakeholders and the relevant authorities.
Improving the infrastructure and streamlining operations of the airport will at the end serve a
larger purpose including easing traffic congestion, better services and facilities to the local
community, creation of employment opportunities and revolutionizing airport operations all over
the world.
Leeds-Bradford Airport sets achievable target of getting to the levels of Manchester, Liverpool
and Newcastle and maybe surpassing them.
Leeds-Bradford Airport plans in operating budget of aircrafts that would bring cheaper flights
that would be able to increased number of passengers through paying moderate cost.

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