Main image: what a London Gatwick would look like if a second runway was built. Picture: Gatwick Media Centre
London Gatwick airport has unveiled a campaign to promote its case for expansion, asserting that by building a second runway it could provide ‘more connections to more destinations’ than Heathrow could by building a third runway.
The campaign, which is named ‘Gatwick Obviously’ draws on planning work undertaken by architect Sir Terry Farrell, whose plans the airport says would better distribute traffic between Gatwick and Heathrow – London’s two main airports.
A visualisation of Terry Farrell’s plans for a transport interchange with a second runway at Gatwick. Picture: Gatwick Media Centre
The result, according to London Gatwick would be that ‘economic benefits [of expansion] would be more evenly distributed across London and the South East and have significant regenerative benefits in particular for South London, including Croydon and down to Brighton and the South Coast’.
According to the airport, ‘an expanded Gatwick would help the UK connect to 27 more destinations than a third runway at Heathrow (442 vs 415 destinations served from London). The same research also shows that a second runway, as part of the network of airports surrounding London, would cater for 11 million more passengers each year by 2050 than a three-runway Heathrow.’
The information was presented on Tuesday 25 March 2014 by Stewart Wingate, London Gatwick CEO, and Terry Farrell at an event at the Shard in Central London for political and business leaders.
