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Gatwick Airport

London Gatwick (/ˈɡætwɪk/),[3] also known as Gatwick Airport[2] (IATA: LGW, ICAO: EGKK), is the secondary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Crawley, West Sussex, England 29.5 miles (47.5 km) south of Central London.[2][4] In 2022, Gatwick was the second-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after Heathrow Airport, and was the 8th-busiest in Europe by total passenger traffic.[5] It covers a total area of 674 hectares (1,670 acres).[6]

"Gatwick" redirects here. For the neighbourhood in Surrey, see Gatwick, Surrey.

London Gatwick Airport

Public

Gatwick Airport Limited

Greater London Urban Area

Crawley, West Sussex, England, United Kingdom

30 May 1958 (1958-05-30)

British Airways

203 ft / 62 m

51°08′53″N 0°11′25″W / 51.14806°N 0.19028°W / 51.14806; -0.19028

www.gatwickairport.com

32,835,381

32,835,381

217,495

115 (in terminal)

Gatwick opened as an aerodrome in the late 1920s; it has been in use for commercial flights since 1933. The airport has two terminals, the North Terminal and the South Terminal, which cover areas of 98,000 m2 (1,050,000 sq ft; 117,000 sq yd) and 160,000 m2 (1,700,000 sq ft; 190,000 sq yd) respectively.[7] It operates as a single-runway airport, using a main runway with a length of 3,316 metres (10,879 ft). A secondary runway is available but, due to its proximity to the main runway, can only be used if the main runway is not in use. In 2018, 46.1 million passengers passed through the airport, a 1.1% increase compared with 2017.[8]


Gatwick is the secondary UK hub for British Airways and the largest hub for low-cost carrier easyJet.

(from Dallas/Fort Worth, Nashville, New York–JFK, Raleigh/Durham and St. Louis)

American Airlines

Ownership[edit]

BAA Limited (now Heathrow Airport Holdings) and its predecessors, BAA plc and the British Airports Authority, owned and operated Gatwick from 1 April 1966 to 2 December 2009.[28][29]


The airport is owned and operated by Gatwick Airport Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ivy Holdco Limited,[30] owned by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), among others.[31] In December 2018, Vinci announced that it would acquire a 50.01% majority stake for £2.9bn, with a GIP-managed consortium of investors (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Australia's sovereign wealth fund and two public pension funds in California and South Korea) owning the remaining 49.9%.[32][33] The sale was completed by the middle of 2019.[34]


In August 2021, it was reported that Gatwick's operators were in talks with lenders following posting first-half-year net losses of £ 245m.[35]


In September 2023, Margaret Ford, Baroness Ford was announced as the new Chair of Gatwick Airport.[36]

Traffic and statistics[edit]

Overview[edit]

In 2015, Gatwick became the first single-runway airport to handle more than 40 million passengers annually.[192] By 2016, EasyJet accounted for over 40% of Gatwick's total passengers.[193][75] When ranked by global passenger traffic, Gatwick is the 35th busiest internationally and the eighth busiest airport in Europe. Gatwick is the world's leading low-cost airport[194] and until March 2017 had the world's busiest single-use runway,[nb 10] with a maximum of 55 aircraft movements per hour.[195][196]

15 September 1936 – A de Havilland DH 86 on a night mail flight to Germany crashed on takeoff, killing the airline's chief pilot and two crew members.[232][233]

British Airways Ltd

November 1936 – A 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.[234]

British Airways Ltd

17 February 1959 – A 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.[235][236][237]

Turkish Airlines

5 January 1969 – A (registration: YA-FAR) operating as Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 arriving from Frankfurt 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. 48 of the 62 on board died, in addition to 2 on the ground.[236][238][239][240]

Boeing 727-113C

28 January 1972 – A 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 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).[241] A survey of the aircraft's damage revealed that its airframe was bent out of shape, requiring extensive repairs to restore 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.[242][243]

British Caledonian

20 July 1975 – A (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.[244]

British Island Airways

29 December 2014 – A Boeing 747-400 (Registration: G-VROM) suffered a loss of hydraulic fluid whilst en route to Las Vegas. Shortly after departure, an alarm prompted the crew to return to Gatwick, when they discovered that an improperly installed actuator had caused the right wing landing gear to not deploy. The aircraft successfully landed on 3 main landing-gear bogies and was returned to service on 11 January 2015.[245]

Virgin Atlantic

19–21 December 2018 – A was caused by reports of drone sightings close to the runway. The runway was closed and all flights were suspended for about six hours on 19 December. The airport reopened at 03:01 the next morning until another reported sighting prompted another closing about 45 minutes later. As of 00:15 on 21 December, the airport was still closed with about 110,000 passengers and 760 flights affected.[246] Officials called the drone flying a "deliberate act of disruption", but did not classify it as terrorism.[247] The army was deployed to assist the police in resolving the incident.[248] The runway reopened with limited capacity around 06:00 that day.[249] Authorities suspended flights again from 17:10 to 18:23 on 21 December. Later that day a man and a woman were arrested in connection with the incident;[250][251] the pair were released without charge on 23 December with Sussex Police saying that they "are no longer suspects".[252]

major disruption to the airport

26 February 2020 – a Airbus A321-211 reported engine surge after takeoff. A few moments later, the other engine stalled. The aircraft landed safely at Gatwick eleven minutes after takeoff. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch determined fuel contamination following defective maintenance had gone undetected for two days and caused the incident. Safety recommendations were made to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, and changes were made by organisations including Airbus and the International Air Transport Association.[253]

Titan Airways

Airports of London

List of airports in the United Kingdom and the British Crown Dependencies

List of busiest airports by passenger traffic

List of the busiest airports in Europe

Gwynne, Peter. (1990) A History of Crawley (2nd Edition) Philmore.  0-85033-718-6

ISBN

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.  0-9512036-0-6

ISBN

Bain, Gordon, (1994), Gatwick Airport, Airlife Publishing Ltd.  1-85310-468-X

ISBN

Tait, Geoffrey, (1984), The Gatwick Express, G. Tait & Associates Ltd.  0-95088-020-5

ISBN

Eglin, Roger; Ritchie, Berry (1980). Fly me, I'm Freddie. London, UK: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.  0-297-77746-7.

ISBN

Thomson, Adam (1999). High Risk: The Politics of the Air. London, UK: Sidgwick and Jackson.  0-283-99599-8.

ISBN

Simons, Graham M. (1993). The Spirit of Dan-Air. Peterborough, UK: GMS Enterprises.  1-870384-20-2.

ISBN

Simons, Graham M. (1999). It was nice to fly with friends! The story of Air Europe. Peterborough, UK: GMS Enterprises.  1-870384-69-5.

ISBN

Branson, Richard (2006). Losing my Virginity – The Autobiography (2nd reprint ed.). London, UK: Virgin Books Ltd.  0-7535-1020-0.

ISBN

Financial Times, 26 October 2007. London, UK: UK Edition.

Skyport – Gatwick edition (Dixon, A., "Second runway plans to remain grounded", pp. 1, 3). Hounslow, UK. 26 February 2010.{{}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

cite book

Financial Times, 10 February 2010. London, UK: UK Edition.

Wood, Alan. "Hoping for a Junkers: More Recollections on Prewar Airline Exploits From a Fledgling Gatwick Airport". Air Enthusiast, No. 83, September–October 1999, pp. 52–57.  0143-5450

ISSN

Woodley, Charles (2014). . Stroud, UK: History Press. ISBN 978-0-7509-5797-7.

Gatwick Airport: The First 50 Years

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Official website