[8] Gatwick is the secondary London hub for British Airways and the largest operating base for low-cost carrier easyJet.

[9] In the 1960s, British United Airways (BUA) and Dan-Air were two of the largest British independent[nb 2] airlines at Gatwick, with the former establishing itself as the dominant scheduled operator at the airport as well as providing a significant number of the airport's non-scheduled services and the latter becoming its leading provider of inclusive tour charter services.

While continuing to dominate scheduled operations at Gatwick for most of the 1980s, BCal was also one of the airport's major charter airlines until the end of the 1970s (together with Dan-Air, Laker Airways and British Airtours).

Following the demise of Air Europe and Dan-Air (both of which had continued to provide a significant number of charter flights in addition to a growing number of scheduled short-haul flights at Gatwick) in the early 1990s, BA (which it had purchased Dan-Air) began building up Gatwick into a secondary hub (complementing its main hub at Heathrow).

[12][13] BA's subsequent decision to de-hub Gatwick provided the space for easyJet to establish its biggest base at the airport and become its dominant airline.

[15] The EU–US Open Skies Agreement, which became effective on 30 March 2008, led several airlines to downsize their transatlantic operations at Gatwick in favour of Heathrow.

On 21 October 2009, it was announced that an agreement had been reached to sell Gatwick to a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which subsequently also bought Edinburgh Airport in 2012,[nb 3] for £1.51 billion.

The sales were part of GIP's strategy to syndicate the equity portion of the original acquisition by issuing bonds to refinance bank debt.

In 2007, WesternGeco reached an agreement with its landlord, BAA Lynton, extending its lease to 2016 at an initial rent of £2.1 million.

[45] Passengers passing through the airport are informed about the redevelopment programme with large mobile barcodes on top of construction hoardings.

[57] One scenario would see 08L/26R used for departing narrow-body aircraft only, while the longer 08R/26L would be used for wide-body take-offs and all landings; widening 08L/26R would also increase the centreline separation slightly.

Consideration of the legal case brought by NATS UK discussed whether the court's approach to resolving such cases should consider the American Cyanamid principles reflected in UK national procurement law or a different "balance of interests" test, as proposed by NATS, which was less likely to allow a proposed contract award where damages paid to a successful challenger might be an adequate legal remedy.

Gatwick is unique among London's airports in its representation of the three main airline business models: full service, low-cost and charter.

[76][77][78] As per Official Airline Guide (OAG) data for the week of 29 May 2017, their respective international departure seat capacity shares at the airport for summer 2017 are 42.1%, 15.4% and 9.4%.

[84][88] It became the airport's largest domestic operator, carrying 1.2 million passengers in its 2011–12 financial year on eight routes to destinations in the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

[nb 6][89] In March 2013, the airline announced that it would end operations at Gatwick, citing unsustainably high airport charges and increases in UK Air Passenger Duty.

This is part of the airport's strategy to attract higher-spending business travellers (countering its dependence on European low-cost and charter markets), increasing year-round capacity utilisation by smoothing peaks and troughs in traffic.

Gatwick's success in persuading these airlines to launch (or re-launch) routes to overseas destinations important for business and leisure travel was aided by a lack of comparable slots at Heathrow.

Initially basing their A321 aircraft there along with additional commercial routes to Greece, Italy, Spain, and Malta operating from 22 October 2020, onwards.

[98] In September 2021, the International Airlines Group announced that British Airways would terminate its short- and medium-haul base operations at Gatwick with immediate effect resulting in the cancellation of more than 30 routes.

This came after labour negotiations regarding the handover of these operations, most of which were still suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to a newly formed budget subsidiary failed.

British Airways continues to serve two domestic destinations, Glasgow and Manchester alongside their long-haul network from Gatwick.

[119][120] Situated to the northwest of the airfield near the village of Charlwood, there is a museum including original items and photographs from Gatwick's history, as well as a variety of military aircraft.

[130][131] As part of a seven-year strategic commercial partnership between Gatwick and EasyJet, the airport proposed several changes to individual airlines' terminal locations.

[122][249] Passenger numbers reached one million for the first time during the 1962–63 fiscal year,[nb 11] with British United Airways (BUA) accounting for four-fifths.

[citation needed] Local buses connect the North and South Terminals with Crawley, Horley, Redhill, Horsham and Caterham.

A new operating system and shuttle cars (six Bombardier CX-100 vehicles)[265] were installed, and the guideway and transit stations were refurbished at a total cost of £45 million.

The system re-opened on 1 July 2010, two months ahead of schedule;[266][267] it featured live journey information and sensory technology to count the number of passengers at stations.

[54][55][268] Expanded operations would allow Gatwick to handle more passengers than Heathrow does today, with a new terminal between two wide-spaced runways.

[273] In late 2011, the Department for Transport (DfT) also began a feasibility study for a high-speed rail link between Gatwick and Heathrow as part of a plan combining the airports into a "collective" or "virtual hub", Heathwick.