section_path: Operations/Third runway
section_name: Third runway
paragraph_text: Third runway
  
  In September 2012, the British government established the Airports Commission, an independent commission chaired by Sir Howard Davies to examine various options for increasing capacity at UK airports. In July 2015, the commission backed a third runway at Heathrow, which the government approved in October 2016. However, the Court of Appeal rejected this plan, on the basis that the government failed to consider climate change and the environmental impact of aviation. On 16 December 2020, the UK Supreme Court lifted the ban on the third runway expansion, allowing the construction plan to go ahead.