Gatwick airport History

Gatwick Airport - in the form it currently exists - was opened in 1958. Prior to 1958 Gatwick Airport was used for many purposes such as a flying club and flying school with the Surrey Aero Club operating there when it was formed in 1930.

In 1933 Gatwick Airport was purchased by Morris Jackman and Airports Limited was formed. The following year it was licensed by the Air Ministry for commercial air transportation. The first scheduled service from Gatwick Airport took to the skies on the 17th May 1936 to Paris, and thereafter the flights increased in frequency.

Upon breakout of war in 1939 the RAF took control of Gatwick Airport for military purposes and continued to operate there for some time after the end of hostilities. However, they still permitted a small number of civilian flights.

Gatwick Airport officially opened in 1958 after two years of construction after Winston Churchill's government had given the go ahead for the development of the site in 1952, due to the congestion and difficulties being experienced at Heathrow. The new Gatwick Airport was completed in an outstanding 33 months and was opened in 1958 by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 1959 - a year after completion - Gatwick Airport flew 368,000 passengers. In 1962 expansion of the airport was required, and as a result the terminal size was doubled and the runway extended in length. Until 1983 several modifications were made to Gatwick Airport to deal with the growing numbers of passengers when the decision was made for a new terminal to be added. Terminal 2 was opened in 1988 by Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh at a cost of £200m followed by a second pier in 1991.

In December 2009 GIP took ownership of Gatwick Airport  following a ruling by the Competition Commission that BAA was required to sell three of it's UK airports. BAA was also ordered to sell Stansted and one of Glasgow or Edinburgh after an inquiry found that customers were suffering from a lack of competition between the airports. Global Infrastructure Partners the new owners of Gatwick have announced a new era of competition between London airports promising more efficient operation at Gatwick.