Has the coronavirus pandemic ended hopes of expanding Heathrow airport?

The pandemic’s impact on the aviation industry has been catastrophic, with carriers left with no revenues and tens of thousands of job cuts across the world. Surely this means increasing the UK’s airport capacity is unviable? Isabella Kaminski investigates

Whichever way the decision goes, Heathrow has conceded a new runway would not be completed this decade

The climate change effects of expanding UK airport capacity have been put under intense legal scrutiny as the aviation industry warned that it was in serious financial straits.

During a two-day appeal hearing this week, judges in the Supreme Court heard detailed arguments about whether the government was right to greenlight a third runway at Heathrow.

The Court of Appeal had concluded in February that the government had not properly taken account of its own climate change commitments when approving a national policy statement on aviation in 2018. The judgment was branded a “major environmental breakthrough” and the court itself described it as a case of “exceptional public interest”.