Long-haul flights could arrive at Luton within the next two decades - if second terminal gets go-ahead

Long-haul flights could arrive at Luton within the next two decades.

If Luton Rising gets permission to build a second terminal, long-haul services could connect its Bedfordshire airport with destinations in the USA and Middle East.

The Wizz Air and easyJet hub has a capacity of 18 million passengers per annum (mppa), but its owner wants permission to handle 32mppa – more than Stansted and Manchester. Opponents have accused Luton Rising of relying on “dubious techniques” to hit environmental goals.

But expansion will help “meet local demand in a competitive way”, a panel of planning inspectors have heard. Luton Rising’s Need Case sets out that at the existing cap, “there would be no scope for growth or regional, full service or long-haul operations at the airport”. It reads: “Growth at the airport has the potential to greatly enhance the connectivity that the airport will be able to offer and to increase its wider economic contribution. The proposed development will enable the airport to provide some long-haul services to points in the USA and Middle East, primarily.”

Facing questions from the panel, aviation consultant for Luton Rising Louise Congdon said: “The London system historically has been so dominated by Heathrow. Airlines can earn so much more money out of Heathrow, that there’s a tendency for them to prioritise putting their long-haul flights there.

“The attempts that were made to operate long haul from Luton a decade or so ago were largely to the Eastern Sea border of the USA. They were innovative business-class-only products, which generally haven’t succeeded.

“That doesn’t mean that there isn’t scope for leisure-type long-haul services to develop. There’s a clear tendency for airports as they grow to obtain service to Middle East hubs.”

Ms Congdon ruled out three-times-a-day flights to New York but said quasi-charter operators like TUI may want to use the airport for its wide-bodied fleets – and would need somewhere to park. Former airline Silverjet launched flights between Luton and either Dubai in the United Arab Emirates or Newark in the United States in 2007, but it failed in mid-2008.

The Need Case has “tested” potential long-term long-haul demand and found flights to New York, Dubai, Orlando, Toronto, Chicago, Cancún and Abu Dhabi are likely to become viable. Ms Congdon said none of these are forecast to kick in until after 2037.

She added it is “prudent” to consider the potential for long-haul flights so Luton Rising does not “understate the environmental impacts” of wide-bodied aircraft. Part of Luton Airport’s case is that it would like to “make best use” of its existing runway – which is supported by government policy from 2017.

‘Make best use of our runway’ – Luton Rising

Part of Luton Airport’s case is that it would like to “make best use” of its existing runway – which is supported by government policy from 2018. Ms Congdon said: “I’ve always been clear the ‘making best use’ policy is about allowing airports to develop the additional infrastructure they need to make sure a runway is better used.

“Making best use is taking a runway and saying, ‘how can I make best use from it?’ It may require additional taxiways, in this case additional aprons [where planes park] and an additional terminal. We’re not proposing a new runway.”

She added: “Making best use is enabling airports to meet local demand in a competitive way. If there’s local demand around Luton, it should be met at Luton.

“If there’s local demand around Gatwick, it should be met at Gatwick. It’s about making sure people have convenient and sustainable access to air transport.”

Luton Airport relies on ‘dubious techniques’

Luton Rising has signalled it could “offset any emissions that exceed a specified baseline” to limit greenhouse gases. But speaking at the panel hearings, which took place between Tuesday, September 26 and Friday, September 29, Ian Ralls of Friends of the Earth asked for “more detail” on the offsetting schemes. He said carbon offsetting is a “dubious technique” and that he wanted “examples” rather than “nebulous promises”.

Dr Alex Chapman, of the New Economics Foundation, urged Luton Rising not to brush off a government policy known as Jet Zero, launched in 2022 to reach net zero carbon emissions from aviation by 2050. “It can’t be relied upon for us to sit here and remove emissions from the equation, which some of the language in the applicant’s statement suggests,” he said.

“They want to simply say, ‘it’s dealt with, we’ll put it to one side, government has solved that problem’. Actually, what this represents is a big trade-off between risk and realism.

“Our duty of care here is to consider risk. Are there risks some of these future developments won’t materialise? Government can’t policy them into existence.” The panel of inspectors have until February to conclude their examination.