Gatwick for sale?

According to The Sunday Times the 42% stake in London’s Gatwick Airport (LGW) by the majority private equity owner Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) could be put up for sale, suggesting it might want to reduce its investment.   Two years ago GIP sold London City Airport for over £2bn, more than twice the purchase price.  The New York based company also owns Edinburgh Airport acquired in 2012.

Since the purchase of LGW in 2009 for £1.5bn from the then BAA Plc (now Heathrow Airport Ltd) GIP has invested heavily in boosting passenger figures to over 45m passengers last year, a world record for a single runway airport.  The asking price could be as high as £8bn.

Whilst further development is planned the airport is clearly frustrated by a government decision to agree with the Davies Commission report that Heathrow was first in line for a new runway.  Gatwick’s future growth, without a second runway, is really in the hands of the airlines as they consider replacing smaller aircraft with 150 and 180 seats by latest generation single aisle machines with a 220 plus capacity.

A previous agreement with the local council not to build a second runway is no longer valid.  Gatwick could in theory go it alone to build a second runway or develop its present emergency strip for parallel use. No comment from the airport. 

www.gatwickairport.com

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