Gatwick Airport hits passenger record and sets 2025 target for new runway

The boss of Gatwick Airport said he stood ready to deliver a new runway by 2025 as he unveiled record passenger numbers and doubled profits.

Chief executive Stewart Wingate said the political turmoil since the Brexit vote would delay a decision on airport expansion until the autumn at the earliest.

A government decision is not expected until after a Conservative party leader is elected, the BBC reported.

However, Wingate insisted that leading candidates Boris Johnson and Theresa May were strongly opposed to a third runway at Heathrow.

He added: “If we get a decision by October, we can commit to getting spades in the ground by 2020 and accelerate delivery to 2025.”

The latest results for Gatwick’s parent company showed a pre-tax profit of £141 million in the year to end March, almost double the previous year’s £79.4 million. Turnover was up 5.5% to £673.1 million.

Gatwick also set a new world record for aircraft movements and passenger numbers for a single-runway airport last year.

It handled almost 266,000 take-offs and landings, an average of 920 a day and up 4% on the previous year. Almost 41 million passengers passed through, up 6%, with the total expected to hit 43 million this year.

The result came on the eve of the publication of the Davies Report on airport capacity, which favoured a third runway at Heathrow as the solution to the aviation capacity crisis.

Wingate said: “Today’s results offer a glimpse of the benefits a two-runway Gatwick would deliver for the UK — guaranteed growth with limited environmental impacts and at a cost the country can afford. The time is fast approaching to give expansion at Gatwick the green light so Britain can get the benefits.”

“Gatwick has entered the premier league of airports with more than 50 long-haul routes. This week, the airport started flights to Tianjin in China and will be flying to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific in weeks.”