A hub airport in the UK could soon be a thing of the past, Gatwick’s chief executive has claimed.
With low-cost carriers such as easyJet and Norwegian ordering medium-haul Airbus A320 jets and Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Stewart Wingate has argued these airlines cannot satisfy hub airports’ capacity demands.
He told The Mail on Sunday that other nations, particularly in the Middle East, are better placed to build giant airports that can service the market between Europe and Asia than Heathrow.
He said: “The Middle East is building hub airports. They’re designed to operate 24 hours a day. Landing charges are $5 a passenger.”
Instead, he argued Gatwick should be allowed to expand with an additional runway, adding: “Boosting Gatwick will give us a second world-class airport which will take the pressure off Heathrow.”
Wingate also said he believed passenger charges at a post-expansion Gatwick could be kept at £15, as opposed to the £23 estimated by Sir Howard Davies and the Airports Commission.
He also argued that should the green light be given for Gatwick expansion, the work would not cost the public purse a penny as the airport’s owner Global Infrastructure Partners has a trillion dollars under investment.
"We’re not looking for a penny of incremental public spending for our schemes. It is entirely privately financed and funded"
Wingate said: “What we’re saying at Gatwick is that we’ll actually set to one side £800 million of our capital investment specifically targeted to put the improvements in place that are required for surface access.
“We’re not looking for a penny of incremental public spending for our schemes. It is entirely privately financed and funded, which is a key differentiator between the two projects.”
He added this was preferable to a plan mooted by Heathrow that would require moving the M25.
“That particular section of the M25, I think as most people who have ever driven it will know, is among the most congested motorway networks anywhere in the world,” Wingate said.
“So there’s a requirement to somehow move it or tunnel it or something or other to put the runway there if they were to go ahead.
“Which sort of leads to all sorts of congestion as you do it, but also the question of who picks up that bill? Because that’s not additional capacity, that’s simply moving it.”
He added Gatwick had managed to grow its customer numbers from 31 million in 2010 to 38.5 million currently and will reach capacity by 2020.
