Gatwick Airport - Factfile

Gatwick today

• Gatwick is the busiest single-runway airport in the world
  
• It is the second largest airport in the UK
  
• It is also the sixth busiest international airport in the world
  
• Gatwick currently has two terminals (North and South)
  
• London Gatwick officially opened on June 9, 1958
  
• The North Terminal opened 30 years later
  
• A year after opening, 368,000 people flew out of Gatwick
  
• Today the airport handles over 30 million passengers a year
  
• Even without a second runway, passenger numbers are predicted to rise to around 46 million by 2020
  
• Over 70 airlines fly out of Gatwick to around 200 destinations
  
• 28,000 people are directly employed at Gatwick
  
• The airport covers approximately 1,687 acres
  
• Gatwick lies 30 miles south of London
  
• The main transport links to the airport are the M25/M23 and Gatwick Express rail service to the capital

Gatwick tomorrow

• Option A: A second full length close-parallel runway to the south would see passenger numbers rise to around 60 million
  
• Option A would lead to the demolition of 50 houses and the loss of 250 acres of green belt land
  
• Option B: A second full length wide-space parallel runway to the south would increase passenger numbers to around 80 million
  
• Option B could mean the demolition of part of the industrial area to the north of Crawley as well as 300 houses. About 840 acres of green belt land would be lost
  
• BAA has rejected the option of building two new runways (one to the north and one to the south) but if this idea were to be revived, passenger numbers could quadruple to around 115 million
  
• If a new runway was built to the north, 430 homes would have to be demolished along with a number of historic buildings, a conservation area and hundreds of acres of agricultural and rural land