Gatwick Airport Celebrates 50th Birthday
Monday 9th June 2008Gatwick Airport is celebrating its 50th birthday as one of the UK's major airports.
Modern Day Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport originally began life as the Surrey Aero Club with work commencing on the modern airport in 1956. The new airport was opened in 1958 by Queen Elizabeth II and cost £7.8 million to construct. It was the first airport to utilise both rail, road and air links making passenger travel that bit easier than other airport at the time. The event will see a message from the Queen being read out during a business breakfast by the Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex, Hugh Wyattas
The chief executive of BAA Colin Matthews had the following to say regarding the milestone anniversary; "The success of Gatwick Airport is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the people who work here. When it opened, the terminal was innovative in design and put passengers at its heart. We remain true to that principle today and have plans in place to invest significantly to revitalise Gatwick."
BAA plans to invest £874 million over the next five years which includes increasing passenger capacity as well as improving baggage handling and transportation. The MP for Labour Laura Moffatt said; "Gatwick has been the lifeblood of Crawley for half a century now and I know that we all want to see that continue in the years to come."
Today the airport is the sixth largest in the world and passenger throughput is around 33 million a year.
Compare Airport Parking have completed a feature for Gatwick Airport that can be found in the features section of our news feed you can find it here: Gatwick Airport Feature
Published by: Jon Vickery
