Unite, the UK trade union representing 7,000 workers at Gatwick Airport, has welcomed plans to build a second runway, provided worker conditions are improved, and it has also renewed its call for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production at Grangemouth refinery in Scotland.

“Unite welcomes the announcement of the expansion of Gatwick but it needs to come with guarantees of well paid, unionised jobs and proper facilities for workers,” said Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham.

The expansion of Gatwick is expected to boost the UK economy annually by £1 billion and create 14,000 jobs nation-wide.

Unite regional coordinating officer Dominic Rothwell said the expansion, “must include investment in staff facilities, such as dilapidated crew rooms,” and “planning to ensure that workers can get to and from the airport, adequate car parking for the thousands of extra staff the expansion will bring.”

Unite also called for the new plans to comply with the UK’s sustainability goals for the future, advocating for a shift to SAF to minimise carbon impact by reducing aviation emissions by up to 80 per cent.

“It is also ever more urgent with every airport expansion that we ensure domestic production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to offset carbon emissions and meet the government’s own targets on net zero,” said Graham.

The trade union has previously called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to intervene in Petroineos’, an oil and gas company based out of England, plans to retire the Grangemouth refinery.

Instead, Unite is looking for the Chancellor to halt the closure, as an independent review into the state of the refinery is conducted to assess the potential for it to transition into a SAF production location.

Following news that the Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander, is “minded to approve” the runway plans, Stewart Wingate, chief executive officer of London Gatwick, said: “By increasing resilience and capacity we can support the UK’s position as a leader in global connectivity… We have also outlined to government how we plan to grow responsibly to meet increasing passenger demand, while minimising noise and environmental impacts.”