Airports Gatwick announces draft plan for future growth

The airport published a draft master plan to the public, which looks at how the airport could be able to grow in the future. The plan was announced over the course of a meeting of the independent consultative committee GATCOM.

In respect of December 2020, when the United Kingdom will leave the European Union over the course of the “Brexit”, Gatwick Airport has now evaluated how the airport can grow and do more for Britain. The newly announced development will help to meet future aviation demand in the London area and the whole South East of the country. Moreover, it will see strong connections being cemented.

Stewart Wingate, Chief Executive Officer, London Gatwick commented: “Our draft master plan marks the start of a new phase for Gatwick – building on what has made the airport the success it is today, and pioneering again to take advantage of the exciting opportunities that lie ahead."

The plan follows the Department for Transport´s guidance, which called for airports to maximise the use of their existing runways. Gatwick´s plan sees three main changes for the future.

At first, the main existing runway will use new technologies to increase capacity. Gatwick airport is known for being the world´s busiest singe-runway airport in the word. However, the airport did not mention what specific technologies will be used to increase growth opportunities for the runway´s future.

Then, the draft master plan sees, that Gatwick will bring its existing runway coming into routine use for the first time ever. RWY 26R/08L is currently only in use, when the main runway RWY 26L/08R is closed for maintenance or emergency situations. According to the airport, the runway will meet all safety requirements and is set to not increase the noise footprint of the airport.

The third point is the construction of a new additional runway. Gatwick Airport has therefore encouraged local communities to take part in a 12-week consultation. The reviews will have its influence in the final version of the master plan, which will be published and agreed early next year.

Gatwick Airport is the second biggest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK. In 2017, the airport handled over 45.500.000 passengers and registered over 285.000 aircraft movements. The airport is a focus city for low-cost carriers like EasyJet, Norwegian, TUI or Thomas Cook.