Airports and flying

*January 2025

Chancellor approves airport expansion

The Labour chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has given her support for a third runway at Heathrow, as part of a speech on plans to boost the economy.  There are fears expansion will mean the UK will break its legally binding carbon budget.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announces backing for third Heathrow runway

The chancellor says the expansion of Europe's busiest airport is "badly needed" - but the Green Party's Sian Berry calls it "the most irresponsible announcement from any government I have seen since the Liz Truss budget".

Sky news  29 January 2015  Alix Culbertson

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Sadiq Khan ‘remains opposed’ to third runway

CityAM   29 January 2025  Jessica Frank-Keyes

Environmentalists urge Reeves to rethink plans for airports and roads

Critics say chancellor’s ‘growth at all costs’ plans are not compatible with UK’s climate targets

The Guardian  29 January 2025  Helena Horton

The Guardian also has an interesting  article with a timeline of the Heathrow third runway saga from May 2003.

September 2021

Jet zero: UK Government strategy for net zero aviation

NOTE  that the entire policy is based on the idea that there is no need for the government to require or encourage any reduction in flying.

Our vision is for the aviation sector to reach net zero aviation, or jet zero, by 2050.

A consultation ran from  14 July  to  8 September 2021

The consultation set out our proposed approach and principles to reach net zero aviation by 2050.

Our ambition is to:

decarbonise aviation in a way that preserves the benefits of air travel

maximise the opportunities that decarbonisation can bring

We are proposing a suite of policies to support industry to reduce and, where possible, eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from aviation. These policies span 5 different measures that aim to:

improve the efficiency of our aviation system

accelerate the development and deployment of sustainable aviation fuels

support the development of zero emission flight

ensure we use markets to drive down emissions in the most cost-effective way

influence the behaviour of consumers

The consultation will inform the final jet zero strategy.

Read the consultation and policy document