Where the Airport talks to its users and neighbours

Date of Next Meeting

Thursday 26 April 2012 at 2pm at a venue to be determined at Gatwick Airport.
The meetings of GATCOM - but not its sub-groups - are open to the public and the press


Accessibility: There are simple links to all parts of this site from the Sitemap (Alt+1; Enter)

Airport Noise
- find out more More about the Gatwick Master Plan

Noise Action Plan
The Airport's noise action plan has been approved by the Government - you can see the draft plan on the Airport's website

Gatwick Airport is the second busiest airport in the UK and handled over 33 million passengers (mppa) in 2009. It is the world’s busiest single runway airport, sixth busiest airport in Europe and the tenth busiest airport internationally.  Passenger numbers are set to increase to around 40 million passengers per year over the next 10 years, in line with government policy to make full use of existing airport runways.

Like all airports, Gatwick affects people's lives in many different ways. On the one hand it offers a wide range of jobs and brings economic benefits and prosperity to the area. But on the other hand it can cause a number of problems and concerns to local communities, particularly on issues such as aircraft noise both in the air and on the ground, pollution, development demands, traffic and parking. Also, the traveller's experience of the airport, as well as the needs of the airlines, are very important elements in the consideration of the airport's future.

GATCOM seeks to reach a common understanding between the various interests about the nature and operation of the airport so that issues can be resolved amicably. It is therefore the custom and practice of GATCOM to ensure that all views are properly reflected and, wherever possible, to work through consensus. Seeking a balance between these wide and conflicting interests is a challenging role. Our primary objective is to ensure the future success of Gatwick providing high quality services to passengers and airlines, having particular regard to the impact this has on the surrounding communities.

Headlines

The last meeting of GATCOM was held at the Sofitel Hotel at the North Terminal at Gatwick Airport on Thursday 26th January 2012 - you can see the Agenda for the meeting by clicking here. The meeting heard from Gatwick Chairman, Sir David Rowlands,who gave an update on how the airport has been transformed over the two years under the ownership of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), and described his vision for the future - see GATCOM Press Release
Pictures by kind permission of Stuart Innes, Clare Jones, Natalia Nosova, Gatwick Airport Limited and BAA plc
Page last updated: 27th January 2012

GATCOM:

  seeks to build interest, communication and understanding between the airport and its users, local residents and the business community
  considers airport issues concerned with the environment, surface access, employment, the economy and the circumstances of local communities
  works with the airport to secure a sustainable development strategy
  works to protect and enhance the interests of passengers and other users of the airport
  considers and comments on matters referred to it by Gatwick Airport Limited.
considers and responds to consultations from Government and other sources that are material to the operation and future development of the airport

 

Chairman's Annual Review 2010/11
- now available
You can also see the reports for 2007/08, 2008/09 and 2009/10