Gatwick's northern runway (right of the two shown) is to be moved 12 metres north to allow dual runway operationsWork is now set to start on bringing the standby northern runway at Gatwick into full operational use, increasing capacity from 280,000 flights a year to around 389,000 by the late 2030s. Central to the expansion is repositioning the centre line of the northern runway 12 metres north to allow dual runway operations, aligning with international safety standards. Gatwick submitted its development consent order application to the Planning Inspectorate in July 2023, which in turn submitted its report to the secretary of state for transport on 27th November 2024. These issues have now been settled to her satisfaction and development consent has been granted. Not only is the start date uncertain, the £2.2bn cost estimate might not be 100% reliable, given the scale of the works.