London Luton Airport faces capacity crunch as UK’s government dithers (again)

Over the past few months CAPA has reported numerous instances of UK government intervention at local, regional, and central levels, into airport infrastructure plans.

In some cases the new infrastructure would be as environmentally friendly as you can get, and even would not be introduced to cater for any growth, rather than merely to improve the travel experience of existing customers.

The latest example is London Luton Airport - one that was a local holiday charter airport and grew to be the UK's fifth busiest by 2019. Expansion there, which has only recently gone out to local consultation and would require minimal additional infrastructure, has been earmarked for a public enquiry by the UK's Secretary for what is known as 'levelling up.'

While the situation at Luton is a complex one involving two overlapping expansion schemes, there is a worrying, discernible trend being established of central government intervention (driven by what could easily become a 'green' obsession).