Over the years Gatwick Airport has changed dramatically, modernisation has seen the airport grow into a major transportation hub for both London and the South East of England. It now regularly services the requirements of over 33 million passengers each year, making it the UK’s second busiest airport, behind Heathrow.
Early History
The first recorded flights to take place out of Gatwick Airport happened as early as the 1930’s with the air ministry approving commercial flights just 3 years later. The airport remained open for another couple of years until 1935 when it closed for expansion work. This work surrounded the building of a circular terminal building. May 1936 saw the resumption of some of its flights, with the first ever scheduled flight taking place on the 17th of May. However, it was another month later before Gatwick Airport was officially re-opened for business.
New North Terminal
Of course things have changed massively for the West Sussex airport, with an additional terminal building being one of the biggest factors in handling the massive number of travellers. The North terminal was opened in 1988, by HM The Queen. At a cost of over £200 million this was a major investment for the airport. Prior to this important change, Gatwick only had the use of a single South terminal; although major investment in 1962 saw this double in size.
In an attempt to attract more travellers the airport built new international departure lounges for both of the terminal building. These came at a cost of nearly £30 million and the first stages were commissioned in 1994.
World’s Busiest Singe Use Runway
One lesser known fact about Gatwick Airport is that although it has two runways, the second North runway can only be used when the main runway is out of operation. This makes it the world’s busiest single use runway, accounting for a staggering 52 aircraft movements during each hour; these figures were based on mid 2011 data.
Key Services
Nowadays airports have to fight hard to ensure they are competitive; this means providing key services to all its customers. Some of these services provided at Gatwick Airport include:
- Top quality hotels
- Gatwick holiday parking
- Premium shopping environments
- Huge range of destinations
Often a traveller might be tired after a long flight and it can be difficult when trying to locate their vehicle. Thankfully the Gatwick holiday parking facility makes things much easier. There is no need to haul large suitcases or bulky items from the terminal building to one of the many car parks. Customers can be safe in the knowledge that their vehicle is secure from the time they depart until when they arrive back. A call to the Gatwick holiday parking centre will result in the speedy and efficient return of their vehicle, ready for the journey back home.
As the airport attracts more and more travellers, services like the ones mentioned above become more and more important. This is especially the case when these travellers come from further afield areas. Parking services and hotels tend to be two of the more important services that any airport can provide.
Important Events
Over the years Gatwick Airport has been involved in a number of historical firsts, some of these include:
- 1972 saw Laker Airways become the first airline to use wide-body airplanes at Gatwick Airport
- The first scheduled transatlantic services departed in 1973, destinations included Los Angeles and New York
- Pope John Paul II arrived in the UK for the very first time in 1982
- The Gatwick Express rail link was launched in 1984, the very first non-stop airport to city centre link.
The airport most recently changed ownership in 2009 when Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) bought the airport in a £1.5 billion deal from BAA. More recent times has seen Emirates Airline launch their very first scheduled A380 flight out of Gatwick Airport. The inaugural flight marked the airline company’s 25th anniversary at the airport.
It is not hard to see why Gatwick Airport remains one of the most popular airports in the UK. Services like Gatwick holiday parking has helped to take the strain out of using the many airport car parking facilities.
