盖特威克机场将开始建设第二条跑道，此前活动人士对计划的法律挑战失败。周二，上诉法院驳回了地方活动小组对早前高等法院裁决的挑战，裁定该计划可以继续进行。该22亿英镑的项目已获得运输大臣海迪·亚历山大的批准，将允许每年增加约10万航班使用英国第二繁忙的机场。盖特威克首席执行官皮埃尔-于格·施密特表示，机场“非常高兴这一裁决结束了长达八年的规划和法律过程，这个过程已对我们的扩展计划的每个方面进行了仔细测试和审查”。该计划将涉及西萨塞克斯的机场稍微重新定位其应急跑道，并定期用于短途客机。目前，它是全球最繁忙的单条跑道机场之一，但希望在2030年尽早投入第二条跑道的使用。政府将该法院裁决称为“盖特威克及当地社区的重大里程碑”。亚历山大表示：“大约1300万名乘客和10万次航班的增加将为度假者提供更多选择，并加强全球联系，帮助使英国成为世界上最具吸引力的投资地之一。”“我们将支持促进增长和气候目标的扩展。为了推动可持续变化，我们还投资超过2.19亿英镑用于绿色燃料生产，以减少航空旅行的排放并确保航空业的未来。”活动人士曾寻求对运输部批准该计划的决定进行司法审查，认为政府没有适当评估该方案对气候的影响。 跳过新闻通讯促销 One of the applicants, Peter Barclay, the chair of Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign, said he was disappointed with the ruling but added: “It is time for governments to wake up and realise that saying yes to the expansion of any and every airport will not kickstart the economy … It will further lock in aviation’s climate, noise and air pollution impacts, increase congestion on roads and public transport and blight local communities.” Meanwhile, Luton Rising, the council-owned company behind Luton airport, announced that all legal challenges to its expansion plans had now been cleared. The supreme court has dismissed any final possibility of appealing a high court ruling last November upholding Alexander’s signoff on plans to increase the airport’s annual capacity from 19 million to 32 million passengers by the mid-2040s. The airport owner said it would create up to 11,000 new jobs and generate up to an additional £1.5bn in annual economic activity, and pledged strict controls on noise and carbon emissions, air quality and surface access to the airport.