UK Travel Guide - Gatwick Airport

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15th July 2008 - by Steve Kevin

Gatwick Airport

Gatwick airport is located in Crawley, West Sussex three miles north of London's town center and 40km north of Brighton.

Gatwick is the second largest airport in the UK and the seventh busiest international airport in the world. It is also said to be the world's busiest single runway airport and it is worth mentioning that Gatwick is currently provided with stand-by runway that can be applied when the major runway is out of use.

Gatwick is owned and run by BAA; one of the largest transport companies in the world which is also the owner and operator of six other UK.

At present there are 79 airlines running from two terminals of Gatwick providing flight services for 227 destinations.

Gatwick's first progress was a direct connection for passengers between the airport and the closest rail station. Building a covered pier from the terminal to aircraft stands was Gatwick's second remarkable innovation which was considered to be a standard characteristic of the airport.

In1932 Gatwick was sold to Mr F. Bezner the owner of the Redwing Company who was the manufacturer of a side-by-side two seater aircraft. He moved the Redwing Flying School in to join the Surrey Aero Club.

In 1933 Morris Jackaman bought Gatwick for £13,500 and in 1934 created Airports Limited.

Jackaman secured the services of Marcel Desoutter as his business manager. They worked together in 1935 when Airports Limited became public and 840,000 shares were sold for 5s each and then they decided for Terminal construction.

A new railway station was opened at Gatwick in September 1935 and was first operated by two Southern Railway trains an hour, on the Victoria to Brighton line.

Hillman's Airways (the first airline provided services out of Gatwick to Paris and Belfast) became in association with United Airways and Spartan Airways in 1935 to form Allied British Airways Limited.

In 1936 the world's first circular terminal (Beehive) was opened in Gatwick. One remarkable factor was that there was a 130 yard long subway to the train station in order to provide convenience for the airport visitors so they could stay undercover during the time they left London Victoria until the boarding time.

This building still exists outside the southern perimeter and recently it has been entirely renewed.

The first flight for passengers boarding from Gatwick to Paris was served in May 1936; it cost four pounds for single tickets and five pounds and five shillings, including the first class train fare from Victoria.

Between 1939 and 1945 (During the Second World War), the airport was requisitioned by the Air Ministry for use by the RAF (Royal Air Force), its area was later extended by more requisitioning to include part of Gatwick Racecourse.

However, Gatwick was returned to civil use in 1946 it was still mainly a grass airfield.
After a few years in 1952 the Government gave approval for the proposed development of Gatwick as an alternative to Heathrow.

Furthermore, in 1988 the North Terminal costing 200 million pounds was officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh.

Finally after a large number of further improvements including opening the new Pier 6 Bridge in May 2005 by Alistair Darling MP, Gatwick is anxious to create a second runway in order to satisfy customer demands.

Although residents and environmentalists are seriously opposed to this theory but a solution is more than likely to be found since the experienced Gatwick has continuously shown success and innovations in the past years.