Gatwick is seeking to become the UK’s main gateway to emerging markets, and is well placed to do so because it does not suffer from the same capacity crunch as Heathrow, according to the airport’s chief executive.
Stewart Wingate, CEO Gatwick Airport
But Stewart Wingate acknowledged in a Financial Times interview that the airport’s business model could impose limitations on the number of connections it could support to long-haul destinations.
These might be overcome if Gatwick, the UK’s second largest airport, aped Heathrow and transformed itself into a hub, and Mr Wingate expects to consider the case for such a move if his airport seeks to build a second runway.
“We do want to be the main gateway to the emerging markets, and with us having the [capacity] headroom, then we think we’re in a good position,” said Mr Wingate.
Gatwick is a so-called point to point airport, mainly focused on the holiday market and where the largest airline is EasyJet, the low-cost carrier that flies to short-haul destinations….
Read this full story at The FT.com
By Andrew Parker
April 18, 2012
