Gatwick Airport

Gatwick Airport
IATA: LGW – ICAO: EGKK – WMO: 03776
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Gatwick Airport Limited
Serves	London, United Kingdom
Location	Crawley, West Sussex
Hub for	British Airways
Elevation AMSL	203 ft / 62 m
Coordinates	51°08′53″N 000°11′25″W / 51.14806°N 0.19028°W / 51.14806; -0.19028Coordinates: 51°08′53″N 000°11′25″W / 51.14806°N 0.19028°W / 51.14806; -0.19028
Website	www.gatwickairport.com
Map
LGW Location in West Sussex, England
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 08L/26R 2,565 8,415 Asphalt 08R/26L 3,316 10,879 Asphalt
Statistics (2014)
Passengers 38,103,667 Passenger change 13-14 7.5% Aircraft Movements 259,962 Movements change 13-14 3.8%
Sources: UK AIP at NATS[1] Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority[2]

Gatwick Airport^{[nb 1]} (IATA: LGW, ICAO: EGKK) is 2.7 nautical miles (5.0 km; 3.1 mi) north of the centre of Crawley,^[1] West Sussex, and 29.5 miles (47.5 km) south of Central London.^[4] Also known as London Gatwick,^[1] it is London's second-largest international airport and the second-busiest (by total passenger traffic) in the United Kingdom (after Heathrow).^[5] Gatwick is Europe's leading airport for point-to-point flights^{[nb 2][6]} and has the world's busiest single-use runway, with a maximum of 55 aircraft movements per hour.^[7] Its two terminals (North and South) cover an area of 98,000 m² (1,050,000 sq ft) and 160,000 m² (1,700,000 sq ft), respectively.^[8] In 2014, 38.1 million passengers passed through the airport, a 7.5 per cent increase compared with 2013.^[2]

From 1978 to 2008, many flights to and from the United States used Gatwick because of restrictions on the use of Heathrow implemented in the Bermuda II agreement between the UK and the US.^[9] US Airways, Gatwick's last remaining US carrier, ended service from Gatwick on 30 March 2013.^[10] This leaves Gatwick without a scheduled US airline for the first time in over 35 years.^[11] The airport is a base for scheduled airlines Aer Lingus, British Airways (BA), EasyJet, Monarch Airlines, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Virgin Atlantic and charter operators such as Thomas Cook Airlines and Thomson Airways. Gatwick is unique amongst London's airports in its representation of the three main airline business models: full service, low-no frills and charter.^[12] During Gatwick's 2011–12 financial year,^{[nb 3]} these accounted for 33 percent, 55 percent and 11 percent of total passenger traffic respectively.^[13]

BAA Limited and its predecessors, BAA plc and the British Airports Authority, owned and operated Gatwick from 1 April 1966 to 2 December 2009.^[14][15] On 17 September 2008, BAA announced it would sell Gatwick after the Competition Commission published a report about BAA's market dominance in London and the South East. On 21 October 2009 it was announced that an agreement had been reached to sell Gatwick to a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), who also have a controlling interest in London City and Edinburgh^{[nb 4]} airports, for £1.51 billion. The sale was completed on 3 December.^[16]

History

The land on which Gatwick Airport stands was first developed as an aerodrome in the late 1920s. The Air Ministry approved commercial flights from the site in 1933, and the first terminal, "The Beehive" was built in 1935. Major development work at the airport took place during the 1950s.

Ownership

Since 2009, the airport has been owned and operated by Gatwick Airport Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ivy Holdco Limited. Ivy Holdco is owned by a consortium of companies, with the following holdings as of March 2014:

Owner	Shares [17]
Global Infrastructure Partners	41.95%
Future Fund Board of Guardians	17.23%
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority	15.9%
The California Public Employees' Retirement System	12.78%
National Pension Service of Korea	12.14%

In February 2010, GIP sold minority stakes of 12 percent and 15 percent to the South Korean National Pension Service and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) for £100 million and £125 million, respectively, in Gatwick's (rather than GIP's) name. The sales were part of GIP's strategy to syndicate the equity portion of the original acquisition by issuing bonds to refinance bank debt. Although this entails bringing additional investors into the airport, GIP aims to retain management control.^[18][19] The Californian state pension fund CalPERS acquired a 12.7- percent stake in Gatwick Airport for about $155 million (£104.8 million) in June 2010.^[20]

On 21 December 2010, the A$69 billion (£44 billion) Future Fund, a sovereign wealth fund established by the Australian government in 2006, agreed to purchase a 17.2-percent stake in Gatwick Airport from GIP for £145 million. This transaction completed GIP's syndication process for the airport, reducing its stake to 42 percent (although the firm's extra voting rights mean it still controls the airport's board).^[21]

Operations

Facilities

The airport has two terminals, North and South. Both have shops and restaurants landside and airside, and all areas are accessible to disabled passengers. There are facilities for baby changing and feeding, and play areas and video games for children; business travellers have specialised lounges. On 31 May 2008, Virgin Holidays opened the V Room, Gatwick's first lounge dedicated to leisure travellers, for use by Virgin Holidays customers flying to Orlando, Las Vegas and the Caribbean on sister airline Virgin Atlantic.^[22]

On 9 April 2009, an independent pay-for-access lounge, No.1 Traveller, opened in the South Terminal. Gatwick has a conference and business centre, and several on- and off-site hotels ranging in class from executive to economy. The airport has Anglican, Catholic and Free Church chaplains, and there are multi-faith prayer and counselling rooms in each terminal. A daily service is led by one of the chaplains.^[23]

The Civil Aviation Authority Safety Regulation Group is in Aviation House.^[24] WesternGeco, a geophysical services company, has its head office and Europe-Africa-Russia offices in Schlumberger House,^[25][26] a 124,000 sq ft (11,500 m²) building on the airport grounds^[27] near the South Terminal. The company had a 15-year lease on the building, scheduled to expire in June 2008. In 2007, WesternGeco reached an agreement with its landlord, BAA Lynton, extending its lease to 2016 at an initial rent of £2.1 million.^[27] Fastjet has its registered and head offices at Suite 2C in First Point at the airport.^[28]

Before the sale, BAA planned an £874 million investment at Gatwick over five years, including increased capacity for both terminals, improvements to transport interchange and a new baggage system for the South Terminal.^[29] Passengers passing through the airport are informed about the redevelopment programme with large mobile barcodes on top of construction hoardings. Scanning these transfers information on the construction to the user's smartphone.^[30]

In summer 2013, Gatwick introduced Gatwick Connect, a free flight-connection service to assist passengers changing flights at Gatwick whose airlines do not provide full flight-connection service. At a Gatwick Connect desk in the baggage reclaim hall in each terminal, passengers can confirm their details or leave their bags for onward flights if already checked in online. As of August 2014, the service is available to EasyJet, Flybe, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Thomas Cook Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and WOW air passengers.^[31][32]

Flight movements

Gatwick operates as a single-runway airport although it has two runways; the northern runway (08L/26R) can only be used when the main runway (08R/26L) is out of use for any reason. Documentation published by the airport in April 2014 indicates that the usable length of its main runway (08R/26L) is 11,178 ft (3,407 m) when aircraft take off in a westerly direction (26) and 10,863 ft (3,311 m) when takeoffs occur in an easterly direction (08). The documentation lists the respective usable runway lengths for the northern runway (08L/26R) as 9,974 ft (3,040 m) (direction 08) and 8,858 ft (2,700 m) (direction 26), and states that nearly three-quarters of takeoffs are towards the west (74 percent, over a 12-month period). Both runways are 148 ft (45 m) wide; they are 656 ft (200 m) apart,^[33] which is insufficient for the simultaneous use of both runways. During normal operations the northern runway is used as a taxiway,^[34][35] consistent with its original construction (although it was gradually widened).^[36]

The main runway uses a Category III Instrument Landing System (ILS). The northern runway does not have an ILS; when it is in use, arriving aircraft use a combination of distance measuring equipment and assistance from the approach controller (using surveillance radar) or (where equipped, and subject to operator approval) an RNAV (GNSS) approach (also available for the main runway).^[37] On both runways, a continuous descent approach is used to minimise the environmental effects of incoming aircraft, particularly at night.^[38]

Night flights are subject to restrictions;^[39] between 11 pm and 7 am, noisier aircraft (rated QC/8 and QC/16) may not operate. From 11.30 pm to 6 am (the night quota period) there are three limits:

• Number of flights
• A Quota Count system, limiting total noise permitted^[40]
• No night QC/4 flights

Security

The airport is policed by the Gatwick District of Sussex Police. The district is responsible for the entire airport (including aircraft) and, in certain circumstances, aircraft in flight. The 150 officers attached to this district include armed and unarmed officers, and community support officers for minor offences. The airport district counters man-portable surface-to-air missiles (MANPADS) by patrolling in and around the airport, and a separate sub-unit has vehicle checks around the airport.^[41]

Gatwick is one of three UK airports with body scanners, located in the main search areas of both terminals. Access to airside portions of the airport is controlled and maintained by the airport's team of security officers, regulated by the Department for Transport. Brook House, an immigration-removal centre of the UK Border Agency, was opened near the airport on 18 March 2009 by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.^[42]

Major airlines

By late 2014, EasyJet flew 109 routes from Gatwick with a fleet of 57 aircraft.^[43][44] The airport is the carrier's largest base, and its 16 million passengers per year accounted for 45 percent of Gatwick's 2013 total^[45] (ahead of Gatwick's second-largest passenger airline: British Airways (BA), whose 4.5 million passengers comprised 14 percent of total passenger traffic in 2011–12).^{[nb 3][46][47]}

The airport is a hub for British Airways; BA and EasyJet are Gatwick's dominant resident airlines. In terms of passengers carried, both airlines were among the five largest airlines operating at Gatwick in 2010 (which also included Thomson Airways, Monarch Airlines and Thomas Cook Airlines at the time).^[48] In terms of total scheduled airline seats at Gatwick in 2014, EasyJet accounted for 18.36 million, more than two-and-a-half times as many as second-placed BA (seven million) and nearly five times the number offered by third-placed Norwegian (3.74 million).^[49]

EasyJet's acquisition of BA franchise carrier GB Airways in March 2008 increased its share of airport slots to 24 percent (from 17 percent in late 2007); the airline became the largest short-haul operator at the airport, accounting for 29 percent of short-haul passengers.^[50] By 2009, BA's share of Gatwick slots had fallen to 20 percent from its peak of 40 percent in 2001.^[51] By 2010, this had declined to 16 percent.^[52][53] By mid-2012, EasyJet had 45 percent of Gatwick's early-morning peak time slots (6 am to 8:55 am).^{[nb 5][54]}

By 2008, Flybe was Gatwick's third-largest airline (accounting for nine percent of its slots) and its fastest-growing airline.^[51][55] It became the airport's largest domestic operator, carrying 1.2 million passengers in its 2011–12 financial year on eight routes to destinations in the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.^{[nb 3][56]} In March 2013, the airline announced that it would end operations at Gatwick, citing unsustainably high airport charges and increases in UK Air Passenger Duty. Flybe sold its 25 pairs of daily slots^{[nb 6]} at the airport to EasyJet for £20 million.^[57][58] The latter's share of Gatwick slots increased to 44 percent in summer 2014; second-placed BA has held about 16 percent of the airport's slots since 2010.^[52][53][59] Following the sale of its Gatwick slots to EasyJet, Flybe continues to provide the scheduled service between Gatwick and Newquay, as a result of being awarded the contract to fly this route under a four-year Public Service Obligation (PSO).^[60]

The EU–US Open Skies Agreement, which became effective on 30 March 2008, led a number of airlines to downsize their transatlantic operations at Gatwick in favour of Heathrow. Continental Airlines was the second transatlantic carrier (after American Airlines)^[61] to leave Gatwick after its decision to transfer the seasonal Cleveland service to Heathrow on 3 May 2009.^[62][63]

Slots left by the US carriers (and the collapse of Zoom, XL Airways UK and Sterling) were taken by EasyJet, Flybe, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Ryanair. A number of new, full-service airlines have established operations at the airport, including Caribbean Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Swiss International Air Lines, Turkish Airlines and Vietnam Airlines. This is part of the airport's strategy to attract higher-spending business travellers (countering its dependence on European low-cost and charter markets), increasing year-round capacity utilisation by smoothing peaks and troughs in traffic. Gatwick's success in persuading these airlines to launch (or re-launch) routes to overseas destinations important for business and leisure travel was aided by a lack of comparable slots at Heathrow.^[64][65][66]

City Place Gatwick

Gatwick's original terminal, the Beehive, is included within the City Place Gatwick office complex together with 1, 2 and 3 City Place.^{[67][68][69][70][71]} The complex was developed by BAA Lynton.^[72]

A number of airlines have had offices at the Beehive, including BEA/British Airways Helicopters,^[73][74] Jersey Airlines, Caledonian Airways, Virgin Atlantic and GB Airways.^{[75][76][77][78]} Other airlines which had headquarters on airport property (including office buildings on the site of, or adjacent to, the original 1930s airport) include British Caledonian,^[79][80] British United Airways,^[81] CityFlyer Express,^[82] Laker Airways^[83] and Tradewinds Airways.^[84][85]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations	Terminal
Adria Airways	Seasonal: Ljubljana	North
Aegean Airlines	Seasonal: Athens, Heraklion (begins 23 June 2015)	South
Aer Lingus	Belfast-City, Dublin, Knock Seasonal charter: Friedrichshafen, Lyon	South
Afriqiyah Airways	Tripoli	South
Air Arabia Maroc	Casablanca, Tangier	South
airBaltic	Riga	South
Air Europa	Madrid	South
Air Malta	Malta	South
Air Transat	Calgary, Toronto-Pearson Seasonal: Halifax, Montreal-Trudeau, St. John's (begins 18 June 2015),[86] Vancouver	South
Aurigny Air Services	Guernsey	South
Belavia	Minsk-National	South
BH Air	Seasonal charter: Burgas, Sofia, Varna	South
British Airways	Algiers, Alicante, Amsterdam, Antigua, Barbados, Barcelona, Bermuda, Bordeaux, Cancún, Dubrovnik, Edinburgh, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal (begins 11 May 2015),[87] Genoa, Glasgow-International, Gran Canaria, Grenada, Jersey, Kingston, Lanzarote, Larnaca, Las Vegas, Málaga, Malta, Marrakech, Mauritius, Naples, Nice, Orlando, Port of Spain, Providenciales, Punta Cana, Rome-Fiumicino, Saint Kitts, Saint Lucia, Salzburg, Seville, Sharm el-Sheikh (begins 14 September 2015),[88] Tampa, Tenerife-South, Tirana, Tobago, Turin, Venice, Verona, Vienna (begins 17 September 2015)[89] Seasonal: Bari, Bodrum, Cagliari, Catania, Dalaman, Friedrichshafen, Geneva, Grenoble, Heraklion, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Malé, Paphos, Pisa, Rhodes,[90] Thessaloniki	North
Caribbean Airlines	Port of Spain	North
Croatia Airlines	Seasonal: Split	South
easyJet	Aberdeen, Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bari, Basel/Mulhouse, Belfast-International, Bologna, Brindisi, Brussels, Budapest, Catania, Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Faro, Fuerteventura, Geneva, Gibraltar, Glasgow-International, Gran Canaria, Hurghada, Inverness, Isle of Man, Jersey, Kraków, Lanzarote, Larnaca, Lisbon, Lyon, Málaga, Malta, Marrakech, Moscow-Domodedovo, Murcia, Nantes, Naples, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Porto, Reykjavík-Keflavík, Santiago de Compostela, Sharm el-Sheikh, Sofia, Strasbourg, Stuttgart, Tallinn, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion, Tenerife-South Seasonal: Antalya, Bastia, Bodrum, Brest, Cephalonia, Chania, Corfu, Dalaman, Figari (begins 14 June 2015), Grenoble, Ibiza, Izmir, Kos, La Rochelle, Preveza (begins 17 May 2015), Rhodes, Salzburg, Split, Turin, Zakynthos	North
easyJet	Agadir, Almería, Athens, Berlin-Schönefeld, Bordeaux, Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen, Funchal, Hamburg, Innsbruck, Luxembourg, Madrid, Marseille, Milan-Linate, Milan-Malpensa, Montpellier, Munich, Palermo, Paphos, Pisa, Prague, Rome-Fiumicino, Seville, Thessaloniki, Toulouse, Valencia, Venice, Verona, Vienna, Zürich Seasonal: Ajaccio, Biarritz, Dubrovnik, Heraklion, Kalamata, Mahón, Mykonos, Olbia, Pula (begins 23 June 2015),[91] Santorini	South
easyJet Switzerland	Basel/Mulhouse, Geneva	North
Emirates	Dubai-International	North
Flybe	Newquay	South
Garuda Indonesia	Amsterdam, Jakarta-Soekarno Hatta	North
Germania	Erfurt/Weimar, Pristina Seasonal charter: Corfu, Heraklion, Larnaca, Rhodes, Skiathos, Zakynthos	South
Iberia Express	Madrid	South
Icelandair	Reykjavík-Keflavík	North
Iraqi Airways	Baghdad, Sulaimaniyah
Meridiana	Naples, Cagliari, Olbia	North
Monarch Airlines	Alicante, Barcelona, Enfidha, Faro, Funchal, Hurghada, Lanzarote, Málaga, Menorca, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Sharm el Sheikh, Tenerife-South Seasonal: Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Friedrichshafen, Grenoble, Ibiza, Larnaca, Paphos, Rhodes, Venice, Verona	South
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Aalborg, Ålesund, Alicante, Barcelona, Bergen, Berlin-Schönefeld, Budapest, Copenhagen, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Gothenburg-Landvetter, Gran Canaria, Helsinki, Lanzarote, Larnaca, Madrid, Málaga, Nice, Oslo-Gardermoen, Palma de Mallorca, Rome-Fiumicino, Sandefjord, Stavanger, Stockholm-Arlanda, Tenerife-South, Tromsø, Trondheim, Warsaw-Chopin Seasonal: Catania, Cephalonia, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Grenoble, Ibiza, Pula (begins 24 May 2015), Salzburg, Santa Cruz de la Palma, Split	South
Norwegian Air Shuttle operated by Norwegian Long Haul[nb 7]	Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, New York-JFK, Orlando, San Juan (begins 1 November 2015)	South
Nouvelair	Seasonal charter: Djerba, Monastir	South
Pegasus Airlines	Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen (begins 1 May 2015)[92] Seasonal: Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman	North
Royal Air Maroc	Casablanca, Marrakech	North
Ryanair	Cork, Dublin, Kaunas, Shannon Seasonal: Seville	South
Small Planet Airlines	Seasonal charter: Athens, Corfu, Chania, Gran Canaria, Kalamata, Larnaca, Kefalonia, Kos, Malta, Preveza, Rhodes, Santorini, Skiathos, Tirana, Zakynthos	South
SmartWings operated by Travel Service Airlines	Prague	South
SunExpress	İzmir	South
Swiss International Air Lines	Seasonal: Geneva	South
Syphax Airlines	Enfidha	South
TAP Portugal	Lisbon, Porto	South
Thomas Cook Airlines	Charter: Antalya, Bodrum, Cancún, Cayo Coco, Dalaman, Enfidha, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Holguín, Hurghada, Izmir, Lanzarote, Montego Bay, Paphos, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife-South Seasonal charter: Acapulco, Agadir, Almería, Banjul, Barbados, Brescia, Burgas, Corfu, Djerba, Fagernes, Faro, Geneva, Goa, Genoa, Grenoble, Heraklion, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Lleida-Alguaire, Kalamata, Kefalonia, Kos, Larnaca, Lemnos, Luxor, Malta, Menorca, Naples, Olbia, Orlando, Palma de Mallorca, Preveza, Reno/Tahoe (begins 19 December 2015),[93] Reus, Rhodes, Rovaniemi, Salzburg, Santorini, Skiathos, Sofia, Thessaloniki, Turin, Varadero, Zakynthos	South
Thomson Airways	Agadir, Alicante, Antalya, Aswan, Banjul, Boa Vista, Cancún, Dalaman, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Girona, Gran Canaria, Heraklion, La Romana, Lanzarote, Liberia (begins 2 November 2015), Luxor, Málaga, Malta, Marrakech, Marsa Alam, Mauritius, Mombasa, Montego Bay, Orlando-Sanford, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Puerto Plata, Puerto Vallarta, Punta Cana, Sal, Santa Cruz de la Palma, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife-South, Varadero Seasonal charter: Acapulco, Alghero, Araxos Patras, Aruba, Barbados, Bodrum, Burgas, Catania, Chambéry, Chania, Colombo, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Faro, Geneva, Grenoble, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Ivalo, İzmir, Jerez, Kavala, Kefalonia, Kittilä, Kos, Kuusamo, Larnaca, Menorca, Mykonos, Naples, Plovdiv, Preveza, Pula, Reus, Rhodes, Salzburg, Samos, Santorini, Skiathos, Sofia, Split, Thessaloniki, Tivat, Toulouse, Turin, Venice-Marco Polo, Verona, Zakynthos	North
Tunisair	Tunis	North
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul-Atatürk, Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen	South
Ukraine International Airlines	Kiev-Boryspil	South
Virgin Atlantic	Antigua, Barbados, Cancún, Grenada, Havana, Las Vegas, Montego Bay, Orlando, Saint Lucia, Tobago	South
Vueling	Barcelona, Bilbao, Florence, Rome-Fiumicino	North
WOW air	Reykjavík-Keflavík	South

Terminal moves

As part of a recently agreed, seven-year strategic commercial partnership between Gatwick and EasyJet, the airport proposes a number of changes to individual airlines' terminal locations. If agreed by all parties, the proposed changes will see EasyJet consolidate all Gatwick operations in the North Terminal while British Airways and Virgin Atlantic will swap their current terminals. Gatwick believes that these terminal moves will improve the airport's operational efficiency and resilience as the use of different terminals by EasyJet and British Airways would reduce pressure on the North Terminal's check-in, security, boarding and ramp areas at peak times. In addition, a terminal swap by Virgin would free up lounge and gate space for BA long-haul passengers in the South Terminal and, unlike BA's current short-haul schedules, Virgin's long-haul schedules would not clash with EasyJet's busy schedule in the North Terminal due to the airlines' differing peak times.^[45]

It was confirmed in January 2015 that British Airways will move all its flights to the South Terminal in November 2016 while all EasyJet flights will be consolidated in the North Terminal at the same time.^[94][44]

Statistics

Busiest routes

The busiest routes to and from London Gatwick during 2014 are listed in the following table.

Busiest routes to and from London Gatwick (2014)

Rank	Airport	Passengers handled	% Change 2013 / 14
1	Barcelona	1,268,729	12.6
2	Málaga	1,055,257	4.8
3	Dublin	990,236	1.4
4	Amsterdam	848,996	13.2
5	Geneva	816,778	4.3
6	Dubai International	775,362	8.2
7	Alicante	768,373	7.6
8	Copenhagen	734,328	23.9
9	Tenerife South	732,873	16.8
10	Madrid Barajas	718,235	10.1
11	Faro	711,212	7.8
12	Orlando International	705,046	6.6
13	Edinburgh	692,873	0.4
14	Palma de Mallorca	691,024	0.6
15	Nice Côte d'Azur	673,586	11.9
16	Rome Fiumicino	657,886	20.9
17	Glasgow International	615,043	1.0
18	Jersey	605,987	12.8
19	Venice Marco Polo	594,661	3.3
20	Milan Malpensa	505,694	4.5
Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority[95]

Traffic

1958–2000

Gatwick handled 186,172 passengers during its first seven months of operation after the 1956–58 reconstruction; the annual number of passengers passing through the airport was 368,000 in 1959 and 470,000 in 1960.^[96][97] Passenger numbers reached one million for the first time during the 1962-63 fiscal year,^{[nb 8]} with British United Airways (BUA) accounting for four-fifths.^[98] The 1.5 million mark was exceeded for the first time during the 1966–67 fiscal year.^{[nb 9]} This was also the first time more than half a million scheduled passengers used the airport.^[99] Gatwick accommodated two million passengers for the first time during the 1967–68 fiscal year^{[nb 10]} and three million in the 1969–70 fiscal year,^{[nb 11]} with BUA accounting for nearly half.^[100][101] By the early 1970s, 5 million passengers used Gatwick each year, with a record 5.7 million during the 1973–74 fiscal year.^{[nb 12]} During that period, British Caledonian accounted for approximately half of all charter passengers and three-fourths of scheduled passengers.^[102] Within a decade annual passenger numbers doubled, to 10 million; they doubled again, to over 20 million, by the late 1980s.^{[96][103][104][105]} By the turn of the millennium, Gatwick handled more than 30 million passengers annually.^[96]

Since 2000

	Number of passengers[nb 13]	Percentage change	Number of movements[nb 14]	Freight (tonnes)
2000	32,068,540	–	260,859	318,905
2001	31,181,770	02.8%	252,543	280,098
2002	29,627,420	05.0%	242,379	242,519
2003	30,005,260	01.3%	242,731	222,916
2004	31,466,770	04.9%	251,195	218,204
2005	32,775,695	04.2%	261,292	222,778
2006	34,163,579	04.2%	263,363	211,857
2007	35,216,113	03.1%	266,550	171,078
2008	34,205,887	02.9%	263,653	107,702
2009	32,392,520	05.3%	251,879	74,680
2010	31,375,290	03.1%	240,500	104,032
2011	33,674,264	07.3%	251,067	88,085
2012	34,235,982	01.7%	246,987	97,567
2013	35,444,206	03.5%	250,520	96,724
2014	38,103,667	07.5%	259,692	88,508
Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority[2]

38.1 million passengers passed through Gatwick in 2014, an increase of 7.5 percent over the previous year.^[2] Long-haul,^{[nb 15]} European scheduled, North Atlantic and Irish passenger traffic recorded increases over the previous year of 12.1 percent, 12 percent, 2.8 percent and 1.3 percent to 5.69 million, 22 million, 1.69 million and 1.28 million, respectively. European charter^{[nb 16]} and UK^{[nb 17]} traffic saw decreases over the corresponding figures for 2013 of 5.6 percent and 3.2 percent to 3.8 million and 3.66 million passengers, respectively. Air transport movements increased by 4 percent to 256,350. Cargo volume decreased by 8.5 percent to 88,737 metric tonnes.^[106]

Compared with a year earlier, March 2015 passenger numbers increased by 9.2 percent to 2.96 million (an increase of nearly 250,000 over March 2014). All passenger traffic categories other than UK^{[nb 17]} traffic recorded increases. The following changes were recorded amongst individual passenger traffic categories: North Atlantic traffic +17 percent (117,600 passengers); European scheduled traffic +12.1 percent (1.817 million passengers); Irish traffic +10.8 percent (116,400 passengers); other long-haul^{[nb 15]} traffic +6.5 percent (315,600 passengers); European charter^{[nb 16]} traffic +5  percent (291,700 passengers); UK^{[nb 17]} traffic -2.6  percent (300,100 passengers). Air transport movements increased by 4.2 percent to 19,840. Cargo volume increased by 4.9 percent to 7,891 metric tonnes. The increase in scheduled passenger traffic to and from destinations in Europe was driven by additional passengers on popular business and leisure routes, led by Geneva and Barcelona. The increase in North Atlantic passenger traffic resulted from the introduction of new transatlantic no-frills flights to New York, Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale by Norwegian Air Shuttle. The increase in passenger traffic to and from other long-haul^{[nb 15]} destinations mainly resulted from continuing growth on routes serving popular business and leisure destinations, led by a 14.7 percent increase in passengers travelling to and from Dubai, as a result of the introduction of the A380 by Emirates on one of its three daily flights.^[107]

Ground transport

Gatwick has set goals of 40- percent public-transport use by the time annual passenger traffic reaches 40 million (estimated in 2015) and 45 percent by the time it reaches 45 million.^[108]

Road

The airport is accessible from a motorway spur road at junction 9A of the M23, which links to the main M23 motorway 1 mile (1.6 km) east at junction 9. The M23 connects with London's orbital motorway, the M25, 9 miles (14 km) north; this provides access to much of Greater London, the South East and beyond, and the M23 is the main route for traffic to the airport. Gatwick is also accessible from the A23, which serves Horley and Redhill to the north and Crawley and Brighton to the south. The A217 provides access northwards to the town of Reigate. The airport has long and short-stay car parks at the airport and off-site, although these are often full in summer. Local restrictions limit parking at (and near) Gatwick.

Rail

Gatwick Express Route Map
Legend
London Victoria non-stop Gatwick Airport Peak times only: Haywards Heath Wivelsfield (northbound only) Burgess Hill Hassocks Preston Park Brighton

The airport railway station, next to South Terminal, provides connections along the Brighton Main Line to Victoria Station and London Bridge and Brighton, Worthing, Eastbourne, Portsmouth and Bognor Regis to the south. Although the Gatwick Express to Victoria (operated by Southern) is the best-known service from the station, other companies (including Thameslink and First Great Western) also use the station and Southern services Victoria and London Bridge under its own name. Thameslink provide direct trains to Luton Airport; First Great Western trains directly link Gatwick Airport with Guildford and Reading and connect to Oxford, Bristol, Plymouth and South Wales. Pedestrians may reach Heathrow by a X26 Express Bus outside East Croydon station, an intermediate stop for rail service to London.

Bus

National Express Coaches operates coaches to Heathrow Airport, Stansted Airport and cities and towns throughout the region and country. Oxford Bus Company operate direct services to Oxford, and EasyBus operates mini-coaches from both terminals to Earls Court and West Brompton.

Local buses connect North and South Terminals with Crawley, Horley, Redhill, Horsham and Caterham. Services are offered by Metrobus and Fastway, a guided bus rapid transit system which was the first of its kind to be built outside a major city. There are two sets of stairs for pedestrians to leave South Terminal at ground level (near the cycle route) from Zone L and the train-station area (labelled Exit Q and Exit P on the ground), which access local bus stops.

Bicycle

Route 21 of the National Cycle Network passes under South Terminal, allowing virtually traffic-free cycling northwards to Horley and southwards to Three Bridges and Crawley. A goods-style lift runs between the terminal and ground level (labelled "Lift to Cycle Route"), near Zone L.

Terminal transfer

Gatwick Airport Shuttle
Legend
North Terminal  to London South Terminal  Gatwick Airport to Brighton

The airport's North and South Terminals are connected by a 0.75 miles (1.21 km), elevated, two-way automated people mover track. The shuttle normally consists of two automatic, three-car, driver-less trains. Although colloquially known as a "monorail",^[109] the shuttle runs on a dual, concrete track with rubber tyres and is not (technically) a monorail.

The Gatwick transit system opened in 1983 when the circular satellite pier was built (connecting the pier to the main terminal), and was the UK's first automated people-moving system. A second track was built in 1987, linking to the North Terminal.^[109] Although the original satellite transit line was replaced with a walkway-and-moving walkway link, the inter-terminal shuttle remains in operation.

Gatwick began upgrading its shuttle service in April 2008. The original Adtranz C-100 people-mover cars remained in operation until 2009, when they had travelled a total of 2.5 million miles (4 million km). In September 2009 the vehicles were withdrawn from service to allow the transit system to be upgraded, and the terminals were connected by bus. A new operating system and shuttle cars (six Bombardier CX-100 vehicles)^[110] was installed, and the guideway and transit stations were refurbished at a total cost of £45 million. The system opened on 1 July 2010, two months ahead of schedule;^[111][112] it featured live journey information and sensory technology to count the number of passengers at stations.

Expansion proposals

Gatwick has been included in a number of reviews of airport capacity in southeastern England. Expansion options have included a third terminal and a second runway, although a 40-year agreement not to build a second runway was made in 1979 with West Sussex County Council.^{[34][35][113]} Expanded operations would allow Gatwick to handle more passengers than Heathrow does today, with a new terminal between two wide-spaced runways. This would complement or replace the South Terminal, depending on expected future traffic.^[114]

Airport management's proposal for a second runway (south of the existing runway and the airport boundary) were unveiled in July 2013. This was shortlisted for further consideration by the Airports Commission in December 2013, and the commission's final report is due to be published by summer 2015.^[115][116] Another proposal would extend the North Terminal south, with a passenger bridge in the area currently occupied by aircraft stands without jet bridges.^[114] Gatwick's draft master plan (released for consultation on 13 October 2011) apparently dropped the passenger-bridge plan in favour of a mid-field satellite (next to the control tower) linking to the North Terminal as part of an expanded 2030 single-runway, two-terminal airport.^[117]

In late 2011, the Department for Transport also began a feasibility study of a high-speed rail link between Gatwick and Heathrow as part of a plan combining the airports into a "collective" or "virtual hub", Heathwick. The scheme envisages a high-speed rail route parallel to the M25, covering 35 miles (56 km) in 15 minutes. Trains would reach speeds of 180 mph (290 km/h), and passengers would need to pass through immigration (or check in) only once.

Incidents and accidents

• 15 September 1936 – A British Airways Ltd de Havilland DH 86 on a night mail flight to Germany crashed on takeoff, killing the airline's chief pilot and two crew members.^[118][119]
• November 1936 – A British Airways Ltd Fokker F 12 crashed in a wood 4.5 miles (7.2 km) south of Gatwick on its final approach to the airport under a low ceiling in poor visibility, killing both pilots and seriously injuring the flight engineer.^[120]
• 17 February 1959 – A Turkish Airlines Vickers Viscount 794D (registration: TC-SEV) on an international charter flight crashed in heavy fog at Newdigate, Surrey, on its approach to Gatwick after striking trees. Fourteen of the 24 on board died, and Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes was amongst the survivors.^{[121][122][123]}
• 2 September 1963 – An Iberia Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation (registration: EC-AMQ) leased by Aviaco on a charter flight from Barcelona, Spain, brushed trees on Russ Hill on its final approach to Gatwick. Although the aircraft sustained minor damage as a result of this incident (which occurred about 220 feet (67 m) above and 1.75 nautical miles (3.24 km; 2.01 mi) from the runway), it landed safely and none of the 75 passengers on board were injured.^[124]
• 5 January 1969 – A Boeing 727-113C (registration: YA-FAR) operating flight 701 of Ariana Afghan Airlines arriving from Frankfurt Rhein-Main Airport, Germany, crashed into a house in Fernhill (near Horley, Surrey) in low visibility. The flaps were not extended to maintain flight at final-approach speed. Forty-eight of the 62 on board died, in addition to two on the ground.^{[122][125][126][127]}
• 28 January 1972 – A British Caledonian Vickers VC10-1109 (registration: G-ARTA) with no passengers aboard sustained severe structural damage as a result of a hard landing at Gatwick at the end of a short ferry flight from Heathrow, where the aircraft had been diverted due to fog at Gatwick. After touching down on runway 08 and applying spoilers and reverse thrust, the aircraft became airborne again, bounced twice and landed heavily. This resulted in a burst front wheel tyre, a separated wheel and a crumpled fuselage (immediately in front of and behind the wings).^[128] A survey of the aircraft's damage revealed that its airframe was bent out of shape, requiring extensive repairs to be restored to airworthiness. Since the repairs were not cost-effective, the airline's management decided to cannibalise the aircraft for spare parts before scrapping it at Gatwick in 1975.^{[128][129][130]}
• 20 July 1975 – A British Island Airways (BIA) Handley Page Dart Herald 201 (registration: G-APWF) was involved in a runway accident while departing on a scheduled flight to Guernsey. The aircraft lifted off from runway 26 after a ground run of 2,490 feet (760 m), and appeared airborne for 411 ft (125 m) (with its landing gear retracting), before the rear underside of the fuselage settled back onto the runway and brought the aircraft to a stop. An investigation concluded that the landing gear was retracted before the aircraft had become established in a climb and the flap setting and takeoff speed were incorrect. Although the aircraft incurred substantial damage, none of the 45 occupants were hurt.^[131]

See also

• List of airports in the United Kingdom
• World's busiest airports by passenger traffic
• Busiest airports in Europe by passenger traffic

Notes and citations

Notes

Citations

References

• Gwynne, Peter. (1990) A History of Crawley (2nd Edition) Philmore. ISBN 0-85033-718-6
• King, John, with Tait, Geoff, (1980) Golden Gatwick – 50 Years of Aviation, British Airports Authority.
• King, John, (1986) Gatwick – The Evolution of an Airport, Gatwick Airport Ltd. and Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society. ISBN 0-9512036-0-6
• Bain, Gordon, (1994), Gatwick Airport, Airlife Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-85310-468-X
• Tait, Geoffrey, (1984), The Gatwick Express, G. Tait & Associates Ltd. ISBN 0-95088-020-5
• Eglin, Roger, and Ritchie, Berry (1980). Fly me, I'm Freddie. London, UK: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-77746-7. 
• Thomson, Adam (1999). High Risk: The Politics of the Air. London, UK: Sidgwick and Jackson. ISBN 0-283-99599-8. 
• Simons, Graham M. (1993). The Spirit of Dan-Air. Peterborough, UK: GMS Enterprises. ISBN 1-870384-20-2. 
• Simons, Graham M. (1999). It was nice to fly with friends! The story of Air Europe. Peterborough, UK: GMS Enterprises. ISBN 1-870384-69-5. 
• Branson, Richard (2006). Losing my Virginity – The Autobiography (2nd reprint ed.). London, UK: Virgin Books Ltd. ISBN 0-7535-1020-0. 
• Financial Times, 26 October 2007. London, UK: UK Edition. 
• Skyport – Gatwick edition (Iyengar, K., "Bermuda Bloomers", "Golden Gatwick", p. 18). Hounslow, UK. 8 February 2008. 
• Skyport – Gatwick edition (Iyengar, K., "The only way is up", "Golden Gatwick", p. 14). Hounslow, UK. 11 April 2008. 
• Skyport – Gatwick edition (Iyengar, K., "Heading North", "Golden Gatwick", p. 16). Hounslow, UK. 9 May 2008. 
• Skyport – Gatwick edition (Cooper, B., "Got your number", "Golden Gatwick", p. 12). Hounslow, UK. 6 June 2008. 
• Skyport – Gatwick edition (Dixon, A., "Second runway plans to remain grounded", pp. 1, 3). Hounslow, UK. 26 February 2010. 
• Financial Times, 10 February 2010. London, UK: UK Edition. 
• Woodley, Charles (2014). Gatwick Airport: The first 50 years. Stroud, UK: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7509-5797-7.  (Google Books)

External links

Media related to London Gatwick Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Google Maps: Gatwick Airport detail: remnant of old Brighton Road between the runways
• Old images of Gatwick Airport and the old airfield
• Airports Commission: interim report

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