LUTON airport is planning a new runway and terminal in time for the 2012 Olympics in an expansion that could mean that it leapfrogs Stansted and Gatwick to become Britain’s second-biggest airport.

A quarter of a century after being ridiculed in the Campari adverts featuring Lorraine Chase, the airport in Bedfordshire intends to reinvent itself as an international hub.

Under its £1.5 billion plan published yesterday, Luton plans to triple passenger numbers to 30 million a year by 2020. Flights would increase from 200 a day at present to 600 a day by 2020.

The airport, run by the Spanish toll road operator Abertis, expects to submit a planning application late next year for a second runway on farmland 950 metres (3,117ft) south of the existing one.

The new runway would be 3,000 metres long, 800 metres longer than the current runway and able to handle a fully laden Boeing 747 jumbo jet. A new terminal would be sandwiched between the two runways, which would be far enough apart to allow both to be used at the same time for take-offs and landings.

However, Kathryn James, the airport’s managing director, said the current plan was to move all flights to the new runway and only use the existing one for emergencies and when the other was undergoing maintenance.

She said the new runway could comfortably handle the 35 million passengers planned for 2030.

However, she admitted that if demand for flights continued to grow sharply, the original runway could be brought back into full use.

She said only 15 homes would have to be demolished. to make way for the runway. It would have far less impact on surrounding communities than the new runways planned by BAA for Heathrow and Stansted, which would require the demolition of 700 and 100 homes respectively. Luton is also planning to open its new runway by the end of 2011, at least two years before Stansted could open its second runway and five years before Heathrow could open its third.

The Stop Stansted Expansion campaign last night voiced hope that the growth of Luton would make it less likely that Stansted was expanded.

Both airports primarily serve the budget airline market and they are only 25 miles apart.

BAA has been attacked by its leading customer, Ryanair, for planning to spend £4 billion on a new runway and terminal at Stansted. Luton plans to spend less than half that sum.

ClearSkies, which campaigns against the environmental impact of aircraft, said Luton was trying to become a two-runway airport by stealth.

John Stewart, its chairman, said: “They are sneaking it in by calling it a replacement runway. Residents under flight paths have learnt from bitter experience not to believe the promises made by airports. It is inevitable that Luton will eventually seek to exploit the full capacity of both runways, with passenger numbers rising to 60 million a year, the same as Heathrow handles today.”

Luton’s plan also includes a two-mile monorail linking the terminals with Luton Airport Parkway train station.

While preparing for the new runway, the airport intends to continue expanding by extending its existing terminal, lengthening the taxiway that runs parallel to the runway and building a new car park.

A planning application for these additions will be submitted early next year.

The Government White Paper on airports, published two years ago, did not support a second runway at Luton but approved a single 3,000-metre runway capable of handling 30 million passengers a year.

Ms James said the company had decided in favour of a replacement runway because the alternative was to extend the existing one, which would involve moving a hill.

She said that Luton was not currently planning to accommodate the double-deck A380 superjumbo, even though the runway would be long enough. “But we would never say never,” she added.

Luton Borough Council, which owns the airport and leases it to Abertis, is supporting the expansion because it believes that it would attract more jobs in an area blighted by the closure of the Vauxhall car factory.

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