Heathrow is set to announce a multibillion-pound expansion plan to create extra capacity at the airport – as it prepares its proposal for a third runway.

The UK’s biggest airport has announced a “once-in-a-generation investment” beginning this year to improve existing buildings and boost passenger numbers.

The development is separate from a new runway – which the government recently announced support for – and will be funded by Heathrow shareholders with airlines and customers charged for the expanded services.

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As part of the investment, the capacity of terminals two and five will be increased and the layout of the airfield will be reconfigured in a bid to improve punctuality and to increase the number of aircraft stands.

In a speech on Wednesday, chief executive Thomas Woldbye is expected to say: “This privately-funded programme will upgrade existing infrastructure while laying the groundwork for a third runway, boosting UK investment and economic growth, with tangible benefits felt this year.”

Heathrow was last month criticised by Europe’s largest airline Ryanair for being “incredibly operationally inefficient”. Because of this, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said the airline had no interest in and would “never” fly from the airport, even if it were free.

Proposals for a third runway will be submitted to the government “by summer”, the airport said, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves backed the expansion as part of her aim of growing the economy.

The support is seen as controversial as many senior Labour politicians such as London mayor Sadiq Khan and cabinet members including Energy Secretary Ed Miliband have long opposed a third runway on environmental and health grounds.

It’s unclear how the additional carbon emissions from the extra flights would be compatible with the state’s legally binding 2050 emissions reduction targets.

A third runway?

Doubt has been cast over whether a runway could even be built during Labour’s time in power. The process would have to be planned and approved before construction could begin.

Rivers and the M25 road would have to be diverted and hundreds of homes would need to be demolished as part of construction.

Ryanair’s Mr O’Leary said the chance of it being built was “slim” but it could be 2050 even if it does get built.

A question over the third runway’s ability to boost the economy was raised by left-leaning thinktank the New Economics Foundation (NEF)

According to its analysis, growth in the number of business travellers – who may grow commercial links – has ceased and instead, passenger growth has been driven by wealthy British residents rather than foreign tourists entering the country.

The air travel industry is also one of the poorest job creators in the economy per pound of revenue, the NEF said, while the environmental downsides of more flights are “significant”.

Steel pact

As part of interim, pre-third runway expansion Heathrow signed a charter to maximise opportunities for the use of British steel, a move welcomed by steel bosses, unions and the government.

Donald Trump has doubled down on US plans to take over Gaza in a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House.

The meeting came the day after the president said he would withhold aid to Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries if they refused to take in people forcibly displaced from Gaza.

King Abdullah’s “steadfast position” – as he laid out on X after the news conference – was “against the displacement of Palestinians.”

He said Jordan, which is already home to millions of Palestinians, will take in 2,000 children who have cancer or are otherwise unwell.

But on taking in more Gazans, he stressed a solution that was “good for everybody” – including Americans, the “people in the region” and Jordanians – was his priority.

However, the King sat quietly as Mr Trump reiterated his plans to displace two million Palestinians, which he said was a “very small number of people”.

Mr Trump also said he believes there will be “parcels of land” in Jordan, Egypt and “someplace else” where Palestinians will live “happily and very safely”.

“They only want to be in the Gaza Strip because they don’t know anything else, they’ve never had an alternative,” Mr Trump said.

“They are being killed there at levels that nobody has ever seen – no place in the world is as dangerous as the Gaza Strip.”

He claims – contrary to what Gazans have said – that “not one person” wants to stay in Gaza.

Asked to respond to the widespread view among experts in international law that his plan amounts to ethnic cleansing, Mr Trump said: “We are moving them to a beautiful location.”

However, Trump appeared to ease off his previous threat to withdraw aid to countries that refused to take in people from Gaza.

“Well, I don’t want to say that… we don’t have to threaten that, I do believe we’re above that,” he said.

In the same news conference, Mr Trump said the US won’t buy Gaza, it will simply “have it”.

“We don’t have to buy, there’s nothing to buy,” he said.

“It’s a war-torn area, we’re going to hold it, we’re going to take it… Gaza the way it is, civilisation has been wiped out in Gaza. It’s going to be a great economic development.”

He declined to answer how that would work – and how he can avoid spending US taxes running it.

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“We’re going to run it very properly and eventually we’ll have economic development at a very large scale”, he said, promising “peace in the Middle East”.

“With the United States in control of that piece of land… you’re going to have stability in the Middle East for the first time.

“The Palestinians, the people who live now in Gaza, will be living beautifully in another location.

“They are going to be living safely – they’re not going to be killed, murdered and having to leave every 10 years.”

Trump added that he is 99% sure he will work out a deal with Egypt.

An American teacher sentenced to 14 years in a Russian jail has been released and is flying home to be reunited with his family.

Marc Fogel, 63, was pictured on a flight to the US on Tuesday – more than three years after he was arrested in Moscow for drug smuggling.

He was detained after travelling with what his family said was medically prescribed cannabis. In December, the US government designated him as wrongfully detained.

Mr Fogel left Russia with Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in what officials said could help bring about talks to end the Ukraine war.

US national security adviser Mike Waltz said: “President Trump, Steve Witkoff and the president’s advisers negotiated an exchange that serves as a show of good faith from the Russians”.

“By tonight, Marc Fogel will be on American soil and reunited with his family and loved ones thanks to President Trump’s leadership,” he added.

Moscow has so far not commented and it is unclear what concessions the US might have made.

“We are beyond grateful, relieved, and overwhelmed that after more than three years of detention, our father, husband, and son, Marc Fogel, is finally coming home,” the family said in a statement.

They said their time apart had been “the darkest and most painful period of our lives”.

Mr Waltz said the deal was “a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine”.

Donald Trump said last month his administration was involved in “very serious” talks with Russia about the future of the conflict.

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Mr Fogel’s release comes six months after he was excluded from the biggest prisoner swap since the Cold War.

That historic deal won the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan, among others.

Russian hitman Vadim Krasikov was among those released from Western prisons in exchange.

However, US-Russian national Ksenia Khavana remains locked up after getting a 12-year treason sentence in August related to a $52 donation to a charity benefiting Ukraine.