London Gatwick airport prepares for busiest summer since 2019

SussexWorld

London Gatwick is prepared to welcome passengers this summer in what will be the busiest season since 2019.  We caught up with head of passenger operations Nick Williams about preparations for the summer period and top tips for passengers

Transcript

00:00I'm Nick Williams, I'm a Head of Passenger Operations at London Gatwick.

00:12So we've been really busy since Easter but obviously as we go into the school summer

00:16holidays this is where our real peak is.

00:18So our busiest day is planned to be just at the start of September actually and on that

00:23day we'll handle more than 900 flights coming in and out of Gatwick.

00:26So that just gives you a scale of the operation but for the next kind of 8-10 weeks we are

00:31really really busy but we're really well set and we've been planning for the last 12 months

00:35to make sure we're ready.

00:36And what is involved in that planning process?

00:40Just huge operation in terms of working with the airlines and ground handlers and our retail

00:44partners to make sure we have the right staffing, to make sure that all the plans are in place.

00:50As I said we have a kind of a test run really from Easter through to July where we're busy

00:55but then it gets us ready for this next step up as we move into the summer.

00:59So you say 900 flights will be the busiest day, what is the sort of norm for that sort of flight?

01:03So at the moment we'll be at about 860 so it kind of shows you how busy we already are

01:09but we just have a very long busy period so the teams at London Gatwick across both our

01:14teams and the third parties that work here work incredibly hard to make sure passengers

01:20get away on their holiday on time.

01:22Obviously we work really hard with the airlines to make sure that we have a schedule that

01:25is operated and they fly so that's kind of like an ongoing communication with the airlines.

01:32We don't envisage cancellations or delays but we do everything we possibly can to make

01:38sure we run a smooth schedule because we know all passengers want is to get away on time

01:42and to get on holiday.

01:43So we have over 50 airlines operating at Gatwick that fly to 220 destinations so at this time

01:50of year we have a huge number of passengers going to Southern Europe but most recently

01:54we launched our five times weekly service to Singapore.

01:59We obviously have daily flights to Dubai and New York so we have a real kind of vast array

02:04of choices for passengers to fly to from Gatwick.

02:08So it will be really busy so we'd really encourage passengers to plan their journey, arrive on

02:12time.

02:13Over 95% of passengers get through our security operation in less than five minutes so we've

02:20got a world class security operation at Gatwick and that just means you'll have plenty of

02:24time to enjoy the departure lounges where you'll be able to eat, drink and shop before

02:30you fly so you can really make the most of that time before you fly.

02:33We've just opened Pizza Express in the South Terminal that do a breakfast pizza so again

02:39make sure you get here early and I definitely encourage you to sample that.

02:43So a lot of the retailers will be doing activities for the kids.

02:47We have really strong kids menus across the piece so we really try and make sure we know

02:53we have a lot of families travelling this time of year.

02:56We have family assistance lanes through security so we really try and take the stress out for

03:00parents travelling with kids.

03:03So we'll be really focusing in on that but broadly we just want to deliver a great operation

03:07for all our passengers.

03:13So clearly we've just gone through the examination by the planning inspectorate so we've got

03:20a really thorough plan where we think we've got a great plan to deliver growth using existing

03:25infrastructure and we'll continue to engage with the planning inspectorate.

03:29We'll clearly get a result towards the end of August that we'll then be able to engage

03:35with them on but at the moment we've put our best foot forward.

03:39We believe it's a great plan and we'll continue to develop that as we go through.

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