Gatwick Airport's chief executive, Stewart Wingate, has stated that the airport is "practically full" and needs to expand to meet growing travel demand and reduce delays.
In an interview with City AM, Wingate said: "If you look at the need from Gatwick airport’s perspective, at the moment we’re practically full," and "Certainly in the peak times and in peak hours of the day, we know that there is demand for flying, often for long-haul routes... but at the moment we’re finding it incredibly difficult to accommodate."
This comes after the Planning Inspectorate passed its recommendation on whether to approve the airport’s £2.2bn proposals for a second runway to ministers last Wednesday, as reported by .
The final decision will be made by the Secretary of State in February. One of the main reasons behind the expansion bid is to introduce new long-haul routes, a market traditionally dominated by Heathrow in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ.
Currently, Gatwick competes with Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport as the world’s busiest single runway airport, with nearly 20m passengers passing through its gates in the first half of this year. This high demand has led to the Sussex hub signing up long-haul airlines in recent years, including Norse Atlantic, Air Mauritius and Ethiopian Airlines, offering over 50 destinations via long-haul flights.
Gatwick Airport's CEO, Stewart Wingate, has highlighted the potential benefits of a proposed expansion project, saying: "If the project were to go ahead... what it enables us to do is attract some of those really lucrative long-haul routes because the pent-up demand is there," referencing the surge in travel following Covid lockdowns. The expansion could also alleviate current pressures on the airport's infrastructure, potentially reducing waiting times and pre-take-off cancellations.
Gatwick has faced significant disruption, with staff shortages leading to delays in 2022 and issues with its air traffic control operation resulting in apologies to passengers last September. "It gives us the opportunity to dramatically increase the resilience of the operation of the airport... so that we can actually offer a more reliable service to passengers in the years ahead," Wingate told City AM.
However, the project's future remains uncertain as Gatwick faces opposition from the Joint Local Authorities (JLA), which includes councils such as Crawley, West Sussex, Surrey, and Reigate. They have expressed concerns in a recent letter, stating the project would "impose unjustified adverse impacts on local communities, local businesses and the receiving environment."
Local and environmental campaigners have voiced strong opposition. A spokesperson for CAGNE (Communities Against Gatwick Noise Emissions) stated, "It might seem like Christmas for Gatwick Airport management, shareholders and local taxi drivers, but not for residents of Sussex, Surrey and Kent who would bear the full burden of an airport as large as Heathrow is today," The government's stance on airport expansion has been inconsistent.
Senior figures hinted in the summer that Labour was "open-minded" towards a third runway at Heathrow, while in August, ministers overturned a verdict from Newham council and approved a significant capacity expansion at London City Airport. However, a decision on Luton Airport’s bid to expand capacity from 19m to 32m passengers per year was postponed by the former Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, in September.
Labour ministers also recently deferred a decision on whether to proceed with the º£½ÇÊÓƵ’s biggest road tunnel, the Lower Thames Crossing, exemplifying the uncertainty surrounding the º£½ÇÊÓƵ’s major infrastructure projects. Despite this, Wingate remains confident that the decision won’t be delayed beyond February.
"There’s no need to have it pushed back but obviously that will be a government decision and we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it."
The aviation expert emphatically argued for the project's solid foundation, noting: "My reflection would be the fundamentals of this project as strong as they ever were. It’s making the best use of the existing facilities... it doesn’t interfere with the motorways, it doesn’t interfere with the railway line. The vast majority of the work is done within the existing boundary of the airport."
They maintained that unlike Luton, their initiative is "further advanced" and occupies a "different place". Adding to the defence, "All we can do, as we have been doing, is to work really hard to try to make sure that we get the decision in our favour," and underscored the simplicity of their rationale, hinged on the creation of 14,000 jobs and a £1bn boost to the º£½ÇÊÓƵ economy.
