Expansion at Gatwick not on the cards for now

The new owners of Gatwick Airport have revealed that they have no plans to build a second runway at the West Sussex gateway.

In a clear sign that Gatwick does not intend to capitalise on the Conservative Party’s opposition to Heathrow Airport expansion, chairman Sir David Rowlands said there was “not a shred of interest” in a second runway.

He made his comments during a meeting with members of the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC) – an environmental group opposed to expansion at the base.

Gatwick Airport was sold to the US-based investment fund GIP in December after regulators deemed that BAA’s dominance in the south-east was harmful to passengers.

The sale was followed by a series of pledges from GIP that it would dramatically improve services and cut queuing times at the base – currently the UK’s busiest single-runway airport – but it also led to a flurry of warnings from the GACC and other environmental groups.

Putting their fears to rest, Sir David said: “The simple fact is that we at Gatwick have not a shred of interest in a second runway. It’s not government policy and it’s not in our policy.

“Even if the government started to look more favourably at the prospect, we would have to think very hard about spending £100 – £200 million on a planning application with an uncertain decision.”

GACC chairman Brendon Sewill welcomed the move, saying: “The united stand by local people, by the local MPs and by all the local councils across Surrey, Sussex and Kent has helped to produce this result.”

While Gatwick’s short-term future now seems clearer, the hotly contested debate over whether an additional runway should be built at Heathrow Airport still rages on.

David Cameron’s Conservative Party, which is widely expected to unseat Labour in this year’s general election, has repeatedly opposed expansion at Heathrow. But that policy came under intense scrutiny last month when a Tory-backed think tank came out in favour of a third runway.

The Bow Group said that plans to develop a high-speed railway network across the UK should go hand-in-hand with continued expansion at the UK’s overstretched main air hub.

© Cheapflights Ltd (Creative Commons image: UggBoy / Flickr)

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