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Olivia Greenway, travel journalist and copywriter

Gatwick Airport – keeping up with the Jones’s

July 6, 2013
By olivia

News of the government’s plans to invest in Gatwick airport railway station (December 2013), has prompted me to report on a visit I did behind the scenes back in the summer.

 

Only five years ago, I used to sigh when I learned that I would be flying from Gatwick, even though it was only 20 minutes from my home. Enormous improvements have taken place since then, with new owners celebrating four years in December.

 

With Heathrow’s Terminal 2 due to open in June 2014, London’s other main airport is keen to demonstrate it is as good as, if not better, than its main rival. Gatwick has the world’s busiest single runway, with a plane landing or taking off every seven seconds.  Gatwick covers more European destinations than any other airport and 48 scheduled airlines fly to over 100 countries.  To cope with all this, a 1.3 billion investment over three years has been planned. In particular, new snow equipment meant that last winter (2012), while Heathrow had over 1,000 cancellations due to bad weather, Gatwick had none.

 

A heavy investment in a better experience for its 34 million passengers can already be seen in shortened waiting time at security in South Terminal with automatic gates, better shops (a new 6,000 ft Harrods opened in summer 2013) and improved food and beverage provision. Bag drop queues are a big issue for airports and Gatwick is working on self bag drops with easyJet and Flybe. Online check-in is becoming more usual; BA has an 80% online rate and easyJet is working towards 100%. All passports will have microchips by 2017 so customers will use the automatic gates. These advances in technology all help to make that trip to the airport less fraught.

 

Shopping revenue is important for Gatwick: 93% of travellers go in a shop and 86% make a purchase. The average spend on food and drink is a rather surprising £25, making the Number 1 Lounge at £25 per visit with free snacks and drinks an attractive consideration. Gatwick has the largest duty free shop in Europe. If you are coming back to Gatwick, they offer a useful free ‘shop and store’ service, to save you taking the goods with you. In particular, Jo Malone is always cheaper than on the High Street. Somehow a bottle always ends up in my shopping basket.

 

North Terminal is due for a facelift in early 2014 and a new Bloc hotel will join the excellent Premier Inn, heralding exciting times for Gatwick. There is a good case for a second runway at the airport. Having had Gatwick on my doorstep for the past eighteen years, I am now rather disappointed that I have recently moved away.

 

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Trips 2018/2019

2019

January: Zanzibar

March: Cape Town & Pretoria

May: Slovenia

October: South Africa (tbc)

November: Kenya (tbc)

 

Trips 2018

March:  New York, including Frick Gallery

May:  Vietnam including Halong Bay

June:  Giverny and Monet’s garden

June:  Majorca

December: Hyderabad and Chandigarh, India

Trips 2017

January: Johannesburg, Pretoria, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe
February: Bangalore
April: Lake District
May: Malaga
September: Mexico, Cancun
November: Delhi, Agra, Shimla
December: Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Venice

Trips 2016 (not clickable)

January: Oxford, Tenerife
February: Hampshire
March: Manchester
April: Sicily, Germany
October: Bangalore, New Delhi
November: Bangalore, New Delhi
December: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

List of trips 2015 (not clickable)

January: European ski resorts; Milan
February: Germany, Austria, Switzerland
March: Istanbul, Jersey, Vienna, Prague, Budapest
April: Road trip Ireland
May: Road trip France, Germany, Benelux and Copenhagen
June: UK luxury hotels
December: Cannes

List of trips 2014 (not clickable)

January Weimar, Vienna
February - Berlin, London
April - Chicago, Toronto, Montreal
May/June - Driving trip, Spain
July – Majorca
July - Paris
August - Southern UK
September – Northern Italy including Venice
October - South of France
October/November - Germany, Austria and Switzerland
December - Cape Town, Durban, driving along Garden Route South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda

List of trips 2013 (not clickable)

  • January - Tenerife
  • March - Istanbul
  • April - Italy luxury hotels - mid and southern Italy including Sicily
  • June - Las Vegas
  • June - Massive west coast road trip - Vancouver, BC
  • June - Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Napa Valley, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, San Diego
  • September - Washington DC, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia
  • September - Carolinas, Georgia, northern Florida (Talahassee area)
  • September - New Orleans, Orlando, Miami; Vancouver
  • October - Puglia, Italy and Milan

List of trips 2012

  • January - Hawaii, USA
  • February - France - Le Touquet, Lens, Lille
  • March - Nelamangala, India
  • July - Milan, Italy
  • August - Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • August - Iguazu Falls, Brazil
  • August - Montevideo, Uruguay
  • September - Delhi, India
  • November - Dubai, UAE

List of trips 2011

  • January - Madeira, Portugal
  • February - Bangalore, India
  • April - British Virgin Islands, Caribbean
  • May - Sicily, Italy
  • May - San Francisco, USA
  • June - Bangalore and New Delhi, India
  • July - Prague, Czech Republic
  • July - Munich, Germany
  • July - Washington DC, USA
  • August - Lake District, UK
  • September - La Grande-Motte, France
  • Annapolis, USA
  • October - Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • December - Helsinki, Finland
  • December - St Petersburg, Russia

List of trips 2010

  • February - India - Kerala & Chennai
  • March - Manchester & the North West
  • March - Austria
  • April - Czech Republic
  • May - Lake District
  • June - Cologne
  • July - India - Bangalore and Delhi
  • August - Eastern Cape & KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
  • September - Grasse, south of France
  • September - Wick, Scotland
  • October - Utah, USA
  • December - Montreal, Canada
  • December - Madeira, Portugal
Olivia Greenway, travel journalist and copywriter
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