London Gatwick Airport

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Template:Airport frame Template:Airport title Template:Airport image Template:Airport infobox }} Template:Runway title Template:Runway Template:Runway Template:Airport end frame Gatwick Airport Template:Airport codes is London's second airport and the second busiest airport in the UK after Heathrow in terms of passengers per year. It is located between Horley in Surrey and Crawley in West Sussex, approximately 40 km (25 miles) south of London, and an equal distance north of Brighton.

Gatwick is the busiest single-runway airport in the world, handling over 32.6 million passengers in 2005, [1] flying to around 200 destinations. Charter airlines are generally not allowed to operate from Heathrow and many use Gatwick instead as their base. Many flights to and from the USA also use Gatwick because of restrictions on transatlantic operations from Heathrow. The airport is also a secondary hub for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.

In 1979, when the last major expansion took place, an agreement was reached with the local council not to expand further before 2019, but recent proposals to build a second runway at Gatwick led to protests about increased noise and pollution and demolition of houses and villages. The government has now decided to expand Stansted and Heathrow but not Gatwick. Gatwick's owners BAA have published a new consultation which includes a possible second runway south of the airport, but leaves the villages of Charlwood and Hookwood, north of the airport, intact.

In common with many airports car parking is in limited supply, in part due to local planning restrictions, and facilities are full to capacity in the summer months.

Contents

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History

The name "Gatwick" dates back to 1241, and was the name of a manor on the site of today's airport until the 19th century. In 1890, the manor was converted into a race course, which hosted the Grand National for several years during World War I.

In 1930, the Surrey Aero Club was incorporated at Gatwick, and pilots began flying their aeroplanes to the races. In 1933, the race course was purchased by an outside investor and redesigned as a full airport. The Air Ministry approved commercial flights from Gatwick the following year, and by 1936, scheduled flights were operating to several destinations on the Continent. A circular terminal called "The Beehive" was built, with a subway connecting it to Gatwick railway station so that passengers could travel from Victoria Station to the aircraft without stepping into the elements.

After World War II, Gatwick was re-designated as an alternative to Heathrow Airport, and the airport was closed for an extensive (£7.8 million) renovation between 1956 and 1958. The new Gatwick was the world's first airport with a direct railway connection, and was one of the first to use a fully enclosed pier-based terminal design with covered jetbridges connecting waiting areas directly to aircraft.

In 1969, Ariana Flight 701, a Boeing 727 of Ariana Afghan Airlines was arriving at Gatwick from Frankfurt International Airport in Frankfurt am Main, Germany when it crashed into a house, killing 50 of the 66 people on board. Two people died on the ground.

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Terminals

Image:Gatwick airport sunset.jpg

The airport has two terminals, North and South, which are connected by an automatic transit system similar to a monorail (though the information screens at the transit stations specifically state they are not monorails), which is funded by BA.

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North Terminal

Construction began on the North Terminal in 1983: it was the largest construction project south of London to have taken place in the 1980s. The terminal was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1988 and was expanded in 1991.

  • Adria Airways (Ljubljana)
  • Aerolíneas Argentinas (Buenos Aires, Madrid)
  • Air France (Nantes, Nice, Strasbourg)
  • Air Namibia (Windhoek)
  • Air Southwest (Newquay, Plymouth)
  • Arkia Israel Airlines (Tel Aviv)
  • American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth, Raleigh/Durham)
  • Astraeus (Accra, Alghero, Aqaba, Aswan, Banjul, Bastia, Bergen, Bodrum, Brescia, Calvi, Chambery, Corfu, Deer Lake, Dubrovnik, El Alamein, Fagernes, Freetown, Geneva, Hassi Messaoud, Heraklion, Kalamata, Kefallinia, Kuusamo, Las Palmos, Malabo, Malaga, Murcia, Murmansk, Mykonos, Olbia, Paphos, Preveza, Salzburg, Sharm El Sheikh, Split, Taba, Tenerife, Thira, Volos, Zadar, Zakinthos)
  • Austrian Airlines (Innsbruck seasonal)
  • British Airways (Aberdeen, Algiers, Amsterdam, Antigua, Atlanta, Athens, Barbados, Barcelona, Bari, Bermuda, Bologna, Bordeaux, Bucharest, Budapest, Cagliari, Catania, Dalaman, Dallas/Fort Worth, Dublin, Dubrovnik, Edinburgh, Fez, Faro, Frankfurt, Geneva, Genoa, Glasgow, Grenada, Grenoble, Hanover, Hassi Messaoud, Houston-Intercontinental, Izmir, Jersey, Kiev, Kingston, Krakow, Luxembourg, Madrid, Manchester (UK), Marseille, Munich, Nantes, Naples, Newcastle, Nice, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pisa, Prague, Prishtinë, Reykjavik, Rhodes, Riga, Rome-Fiumicino, Salzburg (starts 1 December 2006), St Lucia, Sofia, Split, Tampa, Tirana, Tenerife, Thessaloniki, Tobago, Toulouse, Turin, Varna, Venice, Verona, Vilnius, Zurich)
    • BA Connect (Inverness, Isle of Man)
    • GB Airways (Agadir, Alicante, Almeria, Arrecife, Bastia, Faro, Fez, Funchal, Geneva, Gibraltar, Heraklion, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Las Palmas, Lyon, Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Marrakesh, Montpellier, Murcia, Nantes, Oporto, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Porto, Salzburg, Seville, Sharm el Sheikh, Tenerife, Tunis, Turin, Valencia)
  • Daallo Airlines (Djibouti)
  • Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky)
  • Emirates (Dubai)
  • Etihad Airways (Abu Dhabi)
  • First Choice Airways (Alicante, Almeria, Antayla, Antigua, Arrecife, Aruba, Banjul, Barcelona, Bodrum, Burgas, Cancún, Chania, Corfu, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Geneva, Goa, Grenoble, Heraklion, Holguin, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Kalamata, Kefallinia, Kittala, Kos, Krakow, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Mahon, Malaga, Male, Malta, Mitilini, Monastir, Naples, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Porlamar, Preveza, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Porlamar, Puerto Plata, Reus, Rhodes, Salzburg, Sanford, Sharm el Sheikh, St. Thomas, Skiathos, Taba, Tel Aviv, Tenerife, Thessaloniki, Toulouse, Turin, Varadero, Varna, Verona, Volos, Zadar, Zakinthos)
  • Flyjet (Amritsar, Corfu, Heraklion, Larnaca, Luxor, Mahon, Paphos, Sharm el Sheikh, Tenerife)
  • Israir Airlines (Tel Aviv)
  • Kıbrıs Türk Hava Yolları (Antalya, Dalaman)
  • Lithuanian Airlines (Vilnius)
  • LOT Polish Airlines (Krakow)
  • Malev (Budapest)
  • Nationwide Airlines (Johannesburg)
  • Royal Air Maroc (Marrakech)
  • SN Brussels Airlines (Brussels)
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South Terminal

The main pier of the South Terminal was built during the 1956-58 construction of Gatwick. In 1962, two additional piers were added, and in 1983, a circular satellite pier was opened, connected to the main terminal by the UK's first automated people mover system called the gatwick airport transit(it is a cross between a people mover and monorail system). The original pier was extensively refurbished in 1985, and the entire terminal is currently under a second refurbishment program.

  • African Safari Airways (Mombasa)
  • Afriqiyah Airways (Tripoli)
  • Air Algerie (Hassi Messaoud)
  • Air Atlanta (Faro, Hurghada, Paphos, Sanford, Sharm El Sheikh)
  • AirBaltic (Riga)
  • Air Malta (Malta)
  • Air Mashriq (Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta)
  • Air Nostrum (Asturias, Mahon)
  • Air Transat (Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver)
  • Air Zimbabwe (Harare)
  • Alexandair (Heralion, Kos)
  • Aurigny Air (Guernsey)
  • Azerbaijan Airlines (Baku)
  • Belavia Belarusian Airlines (Minsk)
  • BH Air (Burgas, Plovdiv, Sofia, Varna)
  • BritishJet (Malta)
  • Bulgaria Air (Sofia, Varna)
  • Centralwings (Krakow, Warsaw)
  • Continental Airlines (Cleveland seasonal, Houston-Intercontinental, Newark)
  • Croatia Airlines (Dubrovnik, Pula, Split)
  • Cubana de Aviación (Havana, Holguin)
  • easyJet (Alicante, Almeria, Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Belfast, Berlin-Schönfeld, Budapest, Cologne, Connaught, Cork, Edinburgh, Faro, Geneva, Ibiza, Inverness, Knock, Madrid, Malaga, Marseille, Milan-Linate, Nice, Olbia, Palma de Mallorca, Prague, Rome-Ciampino, Shannon, Toulouse, Valencia, Venice)
  • Estonian Air (Tallinn)
  • Eurocypria Airlines (Larnaca, Paphos)
  • European Aviation Air Charter (Rimini)
  • Excel Airways (Alicante, Almeria, Antalya, Arrecife, Athens, Barbados, Bastia, Bodrum, Brescia, Cagliari, Catania, Chania, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Goa, Grenada, Heralion, Holguin, Hurghada, Kalamata, Kavala, Kefallina, Kos, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Lemnos, Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Marsa Alam, Mitilini, Mombasa, Murcia, Mykonos, Naples, Orlando, Palma, Paphos, Preveza, Puerto Plata, Pula, Punta Cana, Rhodes, Samos, Santa Clara, Sharm el Sheikh, Skiathos, St. Kitts, Taba, Tenerife, Thessaloniki, Thira, Tobago, Zakinthos)
  • Flybe (Belfast, Bern, Guernsey, Jersey, Ostersund, Sion)
  • Freebird (Antalya, Dalaman)
  • Futura (Tenerife)
  • Ghana International Airlines (Accra)
  • Germanwings (Hamburg)
  • Helios Airways (Larnaca, Paphos)
  • Jet2.com (Manchester)
  • Karthago Airlines (Monastir)
  • LTE International Airways (Las Palmas, Palma, Tenerife)
  • Sterling Airlines (Billund and Copenhagen)
  • Meridiana (Cagliari, Florence, Olbia)
  • Monarch Airlines (Accra, Alicante, Almeria, Antalya, Arrecife, Banjul, Barbados, Barcelona, Bodrum, Calgary, Cancún, Chania, Colombo, Corfu, Delhi, Faro, Fuerteventura, Geneva, Goa, Grenoble, Heraklion, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Kos, Lanzarote, Las Palmas, Luxor, Lyon, Mahon, Malaga, Male, Mombasa, Naples, Palma, Paphos, Preveza, Puerto Plata, Salzburg, Sanford, Sharm el Sheikh, Skiathos, Sofio, Taba, Tenerife, Toulouse, Trivandrum, Turin, Venice, Verona, Zacinthos)
  • Monarch Airlines (scheduled) (Alicante, Faro, Granada, Lisbon, Malaga)
  • MyTravel Airways (Agadir, Almeria, Arrecife, Bodrum, Cancun, Corfu, Dalaman, Fuerteventura, Gerona, Goa, Heraklion, Hurghada, Ibiza, Kefallinia, Kos, La Romana, Las Palmas, Mahon, Malaga, Male, Monastir, Montego Bay, Palma, Paphos, Puerto Plata, Reus, Rhodes, Salzburg, Sanford, Tenerife, Toronto, Turin, Vancouver, Zakinthos)
  • Northwest Airlines (Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul)
  • Nouvelair Tunisia (Djerba, Monastir)
  • Olympic Airlines (Athens, Thessaloniki)
  • Onur Air (Bodrum, Dalaman)
  • Pegasus Airlines (Dalaman)
  • Pulkovo Aviation (St. Petersburg (RU))
  • Qatar Airways (Doha)
  • Ryanair (Connaught, Dublin, Knock, Shannon)
  • SAS Braathens (Bergen)
  • SATA International (Ponta Delgada)
  • Skyservice (Toronto)
  • TAP Air Portugal (Funchal, Lisbon, Porto)
  • Thomsonfly (Accra, Alicante, Almeria, Antalya, Arrecife, Barbados, Bodrum, Bergas, Cancun, Catania, Chania, Corfu, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Enontekio, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Geneva, Gerona, Goa, Heraklion, Hurghada, Ibiza, Kavala, Kefallinia, Kos, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Luxor, Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Mombasa, Monastir, Montego Bay, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Plovdiv, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Rovaniemi, Salzburg, Sanford, Santa Cruz, Sharm el Sheikh, Sofia, Tenerife, Toulouse, Turin, Varadero, Verona)
  • TAP Air Portugal (Funchal, Lisbon, Oporto)
  • Thomas Cook Airlines (Agadir, Alicante, Almeria, Antalya, Arrecife, Banjul, Barbados, Bodrum, Burgas, Cancun, Corfu, Cunagua, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Geneva, Halifax, Heraklion, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Izmir, Kalamata, Kefallinia, Kos, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Lyon, Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Monastir, Montréal, Munich, Ottawa, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Plovdiv, Preveza, Puerto Plata, Quebec City, Reus, Rhodes, Salzburg, Sanford, Sharm el Sheikh, Skiathos, Sofia, Split, Tenerife, Thessaloniki, Thira, Toronto, Toulouse, Turin, Vancouver, Varadero, Verona, Zakinthos)
  • Titan Airways (Chambery)
  • Transaero (Moscow Domodedovo)
  • Travel Service (Prague)
  • Ukraine International Airlines (Kiev)
  • US Airways (Charlotte, Philadelphia)
  • Viking Airlines (Heraklio)
  • Virgin Atlantic (Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, Havana, Las Vegas, Montego Bay (starts July 3rd 2006), Nassau, Orlando, St Lucia, Tobago)
  • Virgin Nigeria (Lagos)
  • Zoom Airlines (Abbotsford, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg)
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Plane Accidents

  • 17 February 1959 - a Turkish Airlines Vickers Viscount crashed near Horley whilst approaching for landing at Gatwick. The plane hit some trees and went in to a house. Only 10 of 22 on board the plane survived the accident. On board at the time was Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes who was amongst the survivors.[2]
  • 5th January 1969 - an Ariana Afghan Airlines Boeing 727-113C, crashed while attempting to land in low visibility conditions. The flaps were not extended far enough to maintain flight at final approach speed. [3]
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Facilities

Both terminals at Gatwick offer a range of facilities for travellers. Business travellers are catered for by several executive lounges offering peace and quiet and modern business facilities. There is also a conference and business centre with meeting facilities and business services. Business Travellers are also offered Fast Track which enables an efficient car park to airport to check-in and then to flight sevice.

Children are catered for with facilities for baby changing and feeding and there are play areas and video games to keep them amused. The airport also has Skyview in the South Terminal which offers views across the airfield and interactive activities, however this was closed to the public in 2004.

Disabled passengers can travel easily through Gatwick too with all areas being accessible and added special needs facilities.

There is a fairly standard range of shops and restaurants throughout both terminals at Gatwick, such as Starbucks Coffee shops and Virgin Megastores.

The South Terminal includes Pizza Express, McDonalds, several WH Smiths, Boots and an Hilton hotel.

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Ground transport

The South Terminal is located directly above the Gatwick Airport railway station, which provides fast and frequent connections along the Brighton Main Line to London's Victoria station and London Bridge station as well as Brighton to the south. The Gatwick Express service to Victoria is the best-known rail service from Gatwick Airport railway station, but several other companies, including Southern, Thameslink,Virgin Trains and First Great Western Link, use the station as well. Thameslink provide direct trains to Luton Airport, and foot passengers with modest luggage can reach Heathrow Airport by catching an X26 Express Bus from East Croydon.

National Express operates coach service from Gatwick to both Heathrow and Stansted Airport, as well as smaller cities throughout the region.

The airport is near Junction 9 of the M23, and is on the A23 and at the southern end of the A217.

The airport has several long and short stay car parks, both at the airport and off-site.

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External links

Template:UKAirportscs:Letiště Gatwick de:Flughafen London-Gatwick eo:Flughaveno London Gatwick fr:Aéroport de Londres Gatwick it:Aeroporto di Londra Gatwick ja:ガトウィック空港 no:London Gatwick Airport sv:London Gatwick Airport

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