The Heathrow third runway is now expected to open in 2039, four years later than the Government’s previous 2035 ambition, while Heathrow keeps its 2029 target for securing planning permission.
The change does not mean the planning timetable has slipped by four years. Heathrow says its consent target is unchanged. What has moved is the airport’s expected construction and opening programme after permission. There is still no live development consent application, and Heathrow says it remains in the pre-application phase of the Development Consent Order process.
The distinction matters because political support and planning permission are separate stages. The draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement is still under parliamentary scrutiny, and the final policy framework has not yet been designated.
Heathrow third runway still targets permission in 2029
I know what you are thinking: 2039 to open. By then I will be <insert age>. Add on another few years for protests over trees or buildings and perhaps you will be retired or, like me, a memory!
Or maybe we will all have vertical take-off planes by then and runways will feel very 2020s. 😂
But at least the planning is meant to be sorted by 2029.
A Heathrow spokesperson told PA: “Our focus has always been to secure planning permission by 2029.”
Heathrow’s own expansion programme page says the project remains in the pre-application phase of a Development Consent Order, the same position it was in when work paused in 2020. The airport plans a further public consultation later in 2026 before any application is submitted.
A future application would still need to go through the statutory process, including examination by the Planning Inspectorate and a final decision by the Secretary of State. The Government’s HENPS factsheet is explicit that the policy review is not planning permission.
Planning Geek’s guide to National Policy Statements for nationally significant infrastructure projects explains how an NPS guides later development consent decisions without granting consent itself.
The 2029 target therefore depends on much more than the Government finishing its policy review. Heathrow still has to complete pre-application consultation, finalise the scheme and submit a DCO application capable of being accepted for examination.
Once submitted, the Planning Inspectorate normally has 28 days to decide whether an application should be accepted. Pre-examination then follows before the formal examination begins. There is no fixed statutory limit for that pre-examination stage, so the date an application is submitted is not the same thing as the date the six-month examination clock starts.
Once an application reaches examination, the statutory timetable is clearer. The Planning Inspectorate’s infrastructure process allows up to six months for examination, followed by up to three months for the recommendation and a further three months for the Secretary of State’s decision. Those periods can be shortened in a fast-track case and, in some circumstances, extended, but they show how much of the 2029 programme would sit after the application itself has been prepared.
2035 was a Government ambition, not a consent
In November 2025, the Department for Transport said its policy review was intended to allow a planning decision by 2029 and a new runway to open by 2035. That was an ambitious Government delivery timetable, not a planning permission already in place.
Heathrow now says that once permission is secured, the runway would open “within a decade”. If the airport achieves its 2029 consent target, that points to 2039. The new date is therefore Heathrow’s delivery expectation, not a statutory deadline and not a new planning deadline set by Government.
The Department for Transport has not announced a replacement official opening date. Responding to the latest reports, a spokesperson said: “The timeline has always been ambitious.” The department also stressed that there is currently no live planning application.
Why this Heathrow third runway scheme was chosen
The 2029 target also explains why ministers chose Heathrow Airport Limited’s Northwest Runway proposal to inform the policy review rather than the competing Heathrow West scheme. The Government’s November 2025 assessment pointed to the relative maturity of Heathrow’s proposal, greater confidence in the feasibility and resilience of its surface-access plans, and stronger confidence that the expanded airport could operate efficiently, resiliently and sustainably.
That choice was still a policy decision, not a grant of consent. The Government said it expected Heathrow Airport Limited to bring forward the eventual development consent application after the Airports National Policy Statement review. In other words, ministers selected the scheme they wanted the policy framework to be built around, but Heathrow must still turn that concept into an examinable application.
That distinction matters for the timetable. A more mature scheme may reduce some preparation risk, but it does not remove consultation, environmental assessment, compulsory-acquisition issues, detailed design, examination or the Secretary of State’s decision. The 2029 target assumes a great deal of that work can continue while the replacement policy framework is being finalised.
A runway is only part of the build
The ten years Heathrow now allows between permission and opening also reflects the scale of what would actually be consented and built. The draft policy is not limited to a strip of runway. It covers a Northwest Runway of up to 3,500 metres, terminal infrastructure, surface-access works and changes to the strategic road network.
Heathrow says its proposal would require part of the M25 to be rerouted, including a new tunnel and bridges, while the airport continues operating. Terminal and other airport infrastructure would also have to be reconfigured and integrated around the expanded airfield.
That makes 2039 easier to understand as a delivery date. Planning permission would be a major milestone, but it would still leave one of the country’s largest and most complicated live-infrastructure construction programmes to complete.
The policy framework is still under scrutiny
The draft HENPS was laid before Parliament on 22nd June 2026. The formal scrutiny period runs from 22nd June until 26th November 2026.
The public consultation closed on 1st September. In a written answer on 21st September, the Government said it would consider the consultation responses alongside the Transport Committee’s recommendations before setting out its response and next steps.
The draft policy sets the framework for testing any future expansion proposal against issues including economic growth, climate, air quality, noise and effects on communities. Those questions are still part of the policy process. Designating the HENPS would create the framework for a future application, but it would not approve the runway.
The draft is also much more specific than a general statement of support. It is written around a Northwest Runway of up to 3,500 metres capable, when complete, of enabling at least 260,000 additional air transport movements a year. It also covers new or reconfigured terminal infrastructure, surface-access facilities and changes to the strategic road network.
Government proposes to treat development covered by the HENPS as Critical National Growth Infrastructure, reflecting the weight it places on the economic case for expansion. But the same draft keeps the four tests on economic growth, climate change, air quality and noise at the centre of the decision-making framework. Those tests would have to be dealt with through the evidence accompanying any future Heathrow third runway application.
Parliamentary scrutiny is already substantive. The Transport Committee has taken evidence from Department for Transport economists, airlines and airports, climate and noise specialists, Transport for London, National Highways, local-authority representatives and infrastructure-planning practitioners. Its task is to test whether the draft gives sufficiently clear guidance for assessing a future runway scheme and whether the assumptions behind it are robust.
The 2018 Airports NPS still matters
There is another important planning wrinkle while that work continues. The Government’s consultation says the existing 2018 Airports National Policy Statement remains in full legal effect until an amended HENPS is formally designated.
The draft HENPS can still be an important and relevant consideration in decision-making, but it has not replaced the 2018 document. Before the amended policy can take legal effect, the Government says it must consider the consultation responses and the Select Committee’s report, publish the final statement, lay it before Parliament and put it to a vote in the House of Commons.
That does not prevent Heathrow preparing its application in parallel. It does, however, mean that the policy framework and the project application are moving on separate but linked tracks. A delay to one can squeeze the room available in the other if Heathrow is to keep the Heathrow third runway consent target at 2029.
What happens next
The next fixed policy milestone is the end of parliamentary scrutiny on 26th November. Heathrow must also complete its own pre-application work and consultation before it can submit a Development Consent Order application.
Only after an application is submitted can the statutory examination and decision stages begin. Once a DCO decision is issued, the Planning Inspectorate identifies a six-week period in which the decision may be challenged in the High Court by judicial review. Planning Geek’s judicial review guide explains that court route in more detail.
That is why the gap between political support for Heathrow expansion and an operational runway remains substantial. The 2039 date is not simply four extra years of construction. It sits at the far end of a policy review, a major DCO application, statutory examination and decision, possible litigation and then a huge construction programme.
For now, the two dates need to be kept separate. The Heathrow third runway still carries a 2029 planning permission target. Heathrow’s latest expectation is that it would then be operational by 2039.
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