Gatwick Airport hits passenger record and sets 2025 target for new runway

The boss of Gatwick Airport said he stood ready to deliver a new runway by 2025 as he unveiled record passenger numbers and doubled profits.

Chief executive Stewart Wingate said the political turmoil since the Brexit vote would delay a decision on airport expansion until the autumn at the earliest.

A government decision is not expected until after a Conservative party leader is elected, the BBC reported.

However, Wingate insisted that leading candidates Boris Johnson and Theresa May were strongly opposed to a third runway at Heathrow.

He added: “If we get a decision by October, we can commit to getting spades in the ground by 2020 and accelerate delivery to 2025.”

The latest results for Gatwick’s parent company showed a pre-tax profit of £141 million in the year to end March, almost double the previous year’s £79.4 million. Turnover was up 5.5% to £673.1 million.

Gatwick also set a new world record for aircraft movements and passenger numbers for a single-runway airport last year.

It handled almost 266,000 take-offs and landings, an average of 920 a day and up 4% on the previous year. Almost 41 million passengers passed through, up 6%, with the total expected to hit 43 million this year.