Originally Posted by
SWBKCB
Didn't operating hours come up again in the recent runway extension application process? Applying for extended hours now just seems like a way of re-opening the recent arguments, and will be interpreted as acting in bad faith.
The Section 106 Agreement for SOU was recently concluded as a precondition for planning permission for the runway extension. !06 Agreements generally seem to last for about ten years, so in this case to 2032 - they tend to need updating when something material happens (such as the runway extension at SOU) and always place legal restrictions on the airport operator. That might be a passenger cap - normally related to surface access congestion, or a night limit/movement cap (usually noise related). Or in the case of Gatwick, the establishment of (I think) a 20 year restriction - which expired in 2019 - on the use of the northern runway as anything other than a taxiway/standby runway. My expectation therefore is that the newly signed 106 agreement at SOU will remain unaltered until 2032, unless something big changes (such as the introduction of regular drone services in large numbers), which is probably 8-10 years away.
FF