Gatwick Airport History

Gatwick Airports name dates back to 1241 it was owned by Richard de Warwick but he signed it over to John de Gatwick .
It was past down to various different families. Then Gatwick Race Course Company purchased the land in the 1890's, where it was to be used
as a racecourse. The racecourse opened in 1891 interacting with its own railway station.

The famous Aintree Grand National was abandoned during the first world war, and Gatwick racecourse was used to host the worlds most
famous race. The famous Grand National was run over the same distance in 1916, 1917 and 1918. One of the races was won by Poethlyn ridden by E.Piggott the father of one of the worlds finest jockey Lester Piggott.

Gatwick's airport history changed again, when in 1930 it opened as a small flying club owned by Ronald Walters. By 1931 Gatwick became
an important place as owners trainers, racegoers and jockeys arrived by air for the race meeting at Gatwick Racecourse.

In 1932, Gatwick Airport was sold to the Redwing Company, where its owner Mr F. Bezner, was the manufacturer of a side by side 2 seater airplane. Bezner sold Gatwick to Morris Jackaman in 1933 and in 1934 Airports Limited was formed.

In 1934 Air Ministry issued Gatwick with its first public airport license and was to be used by commercial aircraft's.

Mr Morris Jackaman decided to appoint a business manager, and in 1935 Marcel Desoutter became partners. They formed Airports Limited
and 840,000 shares were sold for 5 shillings each.

A new railway station was opened in 1935 at Gatwick, which was served by two southern railway trains, run on the hour going from Victoria to Brighton.

In 1936 Gatwick opened the worlds first circular terminal , which had a 130 yard long subway to the train station . This was so passengers could
remain dry and undercover while heading from London Victoria until boarding the airplane.

Gatwick airport flew its first plane to Paris in 1936, its fare and first class train service costing £4 and five shillings, todays equivalent (£160.22)..
During this same year flights were going from Gatwick to Malmo via Amsterdam, Hamburg, Copenhagen and the Isle of Wight.

During the second World War it was necessary for Air Ministry to use Gatwick airport as its base for the R.A.F. Further space was needed so parts of the racecourse was used..

During 1952, the Government approved planning for the proposed development of Gatwick as an alternative to Heathrow. Gatwick closed the airport in 1956 to start work on its new London Airport..The airport cost £7.8 million to build, and was built in two and three quarter years.
Her Majesty The Queen opened Gatwick Airport on 9th June 1958.

Gatwick was the first airport in the world to combine air, rail and road transport in a close-knit single unit. Transair was the first airline in
1958 to operate out of Gatwick Airport and within 7 months 186,172 passengers used the airport, that is achieved now in a busy weekend.
Within a year Gatwick passengers grew to a massive 368,000 nearly double the previous year.

In 1962 an extension was needed to meet the needs of the passengers, so work started to doubled the airport size and two more piers were
built.

By 1964 the runway was extended 8,200 feet to accommodate its growing number of jet aircraft using Gatwick.
1968 & 1969 figures exceeded 2 million passengers for the first time..The runway was extended again in 1970 then again in 1973.
Pier 2 was opened in 1984 providing extra jetty-served stands.

1982 Pope John Paul II Flew into Gatwick on his first visit to the United kingdom.
1983 work began on building a second terminal at Gatwick airport. The North Terminal was to be the largest single construction project south of London to have taken place in the 1980's.

1984 Gatwick Express rail service launched its none stop service from Victoria station. New Air Traffic Control Tower was built and the tower is
still among the largest in Europe.

In 1985, construction began on the new Gatwick airport northern runway, built just in case of emergencies. In the same year British Airways Concorde made its first ever commercial flight.

In 1987 Gatwick airport LTD was floated on the stock exchange. 1.35 million people purchased shares in the company.
In 1988 the £200 million North Terminal was officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen/ The Duke of Edinburgh.

At a cost of £30 million In 1994, the new North Terminal International Departures Lounge and the first phase of the new South Terminal
International Departures Lounge opened.

In 1998 British Airways purchased the first Boeing 777 to their fleet at Gatwick.

In 2000, Gatwick's £29.5m extension to the international departure lounge in the South Terminal was opened, offering increased seating capacity and new Shops and Restaurants. Click shops restaurants will take you to extra information.

In 2001 a new £35m extension to the North Terminal international departure lounge was opened, which offers passengers extra seating and a wider range of shops and catering facilities.

BAA London Gatwick has won the Travel Weekly Globe Award for "Best UK Airport" in 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and also in 2002.

Today 2004 BAA Gatwick is the busiest single runway airport in the world. The airport handles over 31 million passengers a year and has over 100 airlines flying to nearly 200 destinations world wide. The History still continues to this day...

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