Gatwick Airport Blog

Gatwick monorail ready to go

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:56:19 UTC

A monorail linking Gatwick’s North and South terminals will reopen in July, just 10 months after it was closed for refurbishment. The £45 million refit is designed to slash the duration of journeys between the two buildings, and will introduce two new hi-tech trains.

In September 2009, airport bosses took an axe to Gatwick’s existing shuttle service and locked the carriages away for the final time. The cut was one of the last developments at Gatwick to take place under the rule of BAA (the British Airports Authority) before the airport was sold to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) at the end of the year.

On the day of their retirement, the old trains had travelled more than 2.5 million miles in their 20-year career, equivalent to five return trips to the Moon. In comparison, the replacement bus service has very little to boast about, save for the 20 minutes it adds to journey times.

Gatwick’s new trains have already been lifted onto their new home above the London tarmac, but the monorail is not expected to resume full operation until the summer season. In the meantime, the ‘intra-airport’ bus will continue to ferry passengers from one side of Gatwick to the other.

Airport chief, Ray Melee, was delighted with recent developments at the airport, saying that it was "fantastic news" and "testament to the hard work and skill of the teams involved.”

Gatwick plans to invest £1 billion in improvements over the coming year, almost two thirds of the total value of the airport.

Slice of London for Korean Group

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:55:12 UTC

A major pension fund wants to buy a 12% stake in Gatwick Airport, in a bid to increase the proliferation of its services across the globe.

South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS) is one of the largest asset pools in the world, claiming funds in excess of £153bn.

The NPS opened a dialogue with Gatwick bosses in December last year, with a view to buying a portion of the airport at the beginning of 2010. The deal should be finalised later this week.

Gatwick was sold to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) in October, as part of a government plan to dismantle the BAA’s monopoly over UK aviation.

The GIP spent £1.51bn purchasing the airport, with a further £1bn earmarked for terminal expansions and other developments. The firm has yet to commit to any costly projects, however.

On the 9th February, GIP announced that it had no plans to build a second runway at Gatwick, fearing an ‘uncertain’ planning application that could cost the company up to £200m, whether it succeeded or not.

The millions accrued from the involvement of Korea’s NPS in the airport may help the GIP free up finances for smaller schemes, such as advertising and security upgrades.

Last year, the NPS bought the Canary Wharf headquarters of HSBC for a fee in excess of £770m and a building in Australia for £380m. The pension fund has hinted at the acquisition of more UK businesses, as part of a plan to raise £200bn within the next four years.

Gatwick has not commented on the sale.

Downsizing at Gatwick

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:24:05 UTC

Irish airline, Aer Lingus, has announced cutbacks at its Gatwick Airport hub, blaming flagging consumer demand for its decision.

Aer Lingus is the flag-carrier of the Republic of Ireland, and all fleet aeroplanes sport the green shamrock on their tails. The company has not enjoyed the best run of luck over the last few months, however.

The global recession, now just a speck in the middle-distance, forced Aer Lingus to renege on plans to base eight aircraft at Gatwick. Only five planes ever made it onto the apron, and now the airline wants to redistribute two of them to other, more profitable airports.

A number of flights will continue to operate as normal from the London airport: namely three routes to Ireland, and one to Spain, but plans to expand the £100m base at Gatwick have gone the way of the dodo.

Following an impressive £110m loss for the year ending April 2009, bosses have voiced concerns about operating profits, which are expected to be minimal for the current financial year. The continuing threat of a hostile Ryanair takeover has also done little for shareholder confidence.

Despite all that, Aer Lingus recorded higher than average passenger numbers in December 2009, helping company shares jump a full 9%, but with the winter season now in full swing, the airline is braced for a difficult start to the new year.

Aer Lingus now wants to shave £66m from employee wages and pensions, as efforts to reduce costs continue to take casualties. Voluntary redundancies are being welcomed.

Hundreds of flights frozen

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:57:55 UTC

Whilst terrified villagers spend their last few pennies on emergency supplies, fearing the end of the world in an explosion of snow and ice, Gatwick Airport is struggling to come to terms with a different kind of disaster – the cancellation of hundreds of flights.

On Tuesday, a powerful snowstorm blew in from Siberia, freezing cows in their tracks, and flooding the fields with fluffy snow. Factories were closed, grit trucks tipped over, and cars spent hours travelling just a few metres.

For large swathes of the country, there’s been no reprieve from the weather. Businesses remain closed, and most of the UK’s airports are still trying to offset the delays caused by several inches of snow.

Manchester and Liverpool airports, both of which were forced to close on Tuesday, have since managed to pry open the front doors and let planes take off and land, but Gatwick is still trying to dig itself out of the drifts.

Over 400 flights have been frozen since Tuesday. British Airways cancelled all outgoing flights on Wednesday, much to the dismay of its passengers, who spent the night on the floor at the London airport, whilst EasyJet axed seventy on Thursday morning.

Gatwick is currently operational, but passengers are being warned to expect frequent closures, as staff members try to de-ice the runway.

A statement on the official website reads – “There are significant disruptions to all flights arriving at Gatwick Airport. We are working hard to keep the runway clear, although the threat of more snow and ice remains.”

If you are travelling to a British airport today, or over the weekend, please contact your airline before leaving your house. The Times Online website is running a daily bulletin of all the problems affecting major airports. You can read it here.

New Gatwick owners to sell stake

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:00:41 UTC

GIP (Global Infrastructure Partners), which recently bought Gatwick Airport, has now announced that it will be selling a stake in the company sometime next year. However, it is still planning to keep control of the airport following any sale that takes place.

Gatwick Airport was sold for £1.51 billion when the Competition Commission forced BAA to break up its dominance of the market. GIP has confirmed that the changes it will be making will include improving check-in times and enhancing the rail service to the airport. Michael McGhee, a partner at the company, said that the “focus is very much on the modernisation and improvement of Gatwick”.

GIP already has experience in the sector after buying London City Airport, which is popular with business flyers. It sold a 25% holding in the airport to Highstar Capital in New York, and so it is planning to follow the same course of action with Gatwick.

It will also be hoping to improve the service in the same way that it did at London City Airport. One of the main improvements at London City Airport has been the improvement in the punctuality of flights. McGhee said that although London City was a “different animal”, he confirmed that “a lot of the principles and processes we applied are pretty applicable at Gatwick”.

Bloomberg News quoted Airports Council International as stating that last year 34.2 million people travelled through Gatwick, making it the eighth busiest airport in Europe. The first was Heathrow with 67 million, which BAA are certain to keep hold of.

Gatwick con smashed by Council

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:12:55 UTC

West Sussex County Council has put the brakes on a parking swindle, designed to con travellers out of their hard-earned cash.

Gatwick Secure Parking, a private enterprise owned by London restaurateur, Resat Gundogdu, sold fake parking spaces to unsuspecting tourists, wooing them with hyperbole and buzzwords – secure facilities, six-foot high fences and lockable gates.

A litany of complaints forced the local Trading Standards Office to intervene, but the company carried on trading. Further investigation revealed that the firm was running a very strange business indeed.

Council officers purchased their own parking space from Mr. Gundogdu, and left for the evening, assured that their car would be treated with the utmost care, wrapped in cotton wool and guarded by angry dragons.

However, it soon became clear that Gatwick Secure Parking was not providing the service that its website had promised. Rather than transporting customer vehicles to a secure location, valuable cars and motorbikes were being left in the general parking area, unattended.

Over three winter days, council officers returned to find their mileage identical to the previous evening. In November, Mr. Gundogdu pleaded guilty to fraud. He was handed a £836 fine, and sentenced to 140 hours community service, picking up leaves and planting flowers. West Sussex Council was suitably impressed with the verdict.

“This is another example of our trading standards officers' determination to protect the interests of consumers who live, work or visit our county”, council boss, Henry Smith, explained. The Gatwick Secure Parking website has since been shut down.

Mr. Gundogdu was also fined £24,000 for failing to uphold hygiene standards at a Crawley kebab and steak house.