"Mixed Mode" System May Be Fix For Adding Capacity At Heathrow

George Osborne is understood to be pushing plans to let Heathrow use its two runways throughout the day for both arrivals and departures - a move that would support 60,000 further flights a year.

The system, called "mixed mode", is seen in some parts of Government as an "easy fix" to the south east's capacity problems, without having to re-open the controversial debate about a third runway at Heathrow.

Currently, one runway is used for take-offs and the other for landings. This pattern is changed halfway through the day to minimize noise disruption for local residents.

The Department for Transport has so far ruled out mixed mode at Heathrow but the scheme could be re-visited in the Government's forthcoming aviation white paper to avoid an embarrassing u-turn on a third runway.

But the tactic is unlikely to satisfy much of the aviation industry, which is lobbying for the 240,000 extra flights a year that would be provided by a third runway.

BAA would still be forced to seek planning permission for mixed mode, which would take it above its current cap of 480,000 flights a year from Heathrow.

Rival Gatwick will next month float the possibility of building a second runway after 2020 as it seeks to become London's main link to Asia.

The Aviation Foundation will tomorrow bemoan "more than 60 years of indecision" by successive governments on aviation policy at a conference in London.

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