Transport secretary backs £2.2bn airport plan to modify emergency runway to cater for 100,000 extra flights a year

Gatwick has been given qualified consent to operate a second runway after the government “set out a path to expansion” for London’s second biggest airport.

The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, was “minded to approve” the £2.2bn expansion scheme, according to a government source, but has yet to ratify the development consent order that could allow more than 100,000 extra flights a year at the West Sussex airport.