London Gatwick can help the new government meet its missions for national renewal

Stewart Wingate, CEO | London Gatwick

5 min read24 September Partner content

By investing in infrastructure, businesses, local communities and decarbonisation – while increasing airport capacity − London Gatwick will play a crucial role supporting the government’s objectives on economic growth, clean energy and reducing barriers to opportunity

The chances are that if you live in London or the South East, you will have travelled through London Gatwick for that well-earned break, to see friends or family, or do business overseas. But did you know that the airport is one of the biggest employers in the South East, supporting over 50,000 jobs in the region in 2023?

This puts us at the heart of the regional economy. And like the Prime Minister, we too believe we have an exciting opportunity to “take the brakes off Britain” by advocating for the economic success of Sussex, Surrey, Kent and London within government, industry and with our international partners.

There is a challenge, however. The National Infrastructure Commission says that UK productivity has fallen behind comparator countries and many commentors believe lack of investment in transport infrastructure and skills shortages are part of the problem.

The government recognises this and its missions on kickstarting economic growth and breaking down barriers to opportunity will do just that. We have seen some early progress − but there is still more to do.

London Gatwick’s role supporting Labour’s missions on economy and opportunity
We know that one way to bolster growth and productivity is by improving transport infrastructure to reduce long commutes. Our Airport Economic Zone initiative will encourage more businesses to establish themselves near the airport and create more jobs locally.

Combined with our investment in public transport and electric vehicle charging infrastructure and our targets to buy and hire locally, we will continue to ensure our communities feel the maximum benefit from having an international airport on their doorstep.

“The Northern Runway Project will create around 14,000 new jobs and inject £1bn into the region’s economy every year”

This will be boosted further in the longer-term, with our £2.2bn privately financed plan to bring our existing Northern Runway into routine use, so we can use both of our runways in dual operation.

Impact reports conducted by economics consultancy Oxera show that the Northern Runway Project will create around 14,000 new jobs and inject £1bn into the region’s economy every year. Analysis by Oxford Economics also forecasts the wider economic benefits created by increased connectivity, tourism and trade. The increased domestic and international connectivity with the project will help to increase London Gatwick’s productivity contribution to UK GDP to 0.88 per cent by 2038 − billions of pounds of value to the UK economy from just one infrastructure asset.

Growth at the airport could also give us more scope to invest in local communities, building on existing initiatives to promote aviation careers and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) to local young people. Our ambition is to achieve one million student ‘encounters’ in this decade, through careers fairs, outreach in local schools, and visits to our on-site STEM Centre, where young people get practical experience of careers at the airport − helping break down barriers to opportunity and supporting social mobility.

Our plans are subject to approval by the government and if consent is granted, this would help Labour achieve its missions on economic growth and opportunity.

The clean energy mission: London Gatwick will be net-zero by 2030 and is supporting airlines to make greener choices
We can also play a critical role in making the UK a global leader in clean energy − another Labour mission. We’ve been reducing our own emissions for the best part of two decades, and recently accelerated our commitment to be a net-zero airport by 2030, alongside supporting achieving net-zero as an industry.

As part of this we have been using 100 per cent renewable electricity for more than a decade and we became a carbon neutral airport in 2017. Taking this further, we have committed to invest £250m in reducing the emissions we control (Scope 1 and 2) by 2030.

This includes decarbonising heating by replacing all gas boilers; transitioning to an all-electric vehicle fleet and providing electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure across the airport; replacing refrigerants, with less harmful options; improving energy efficiency across the airport; and generating renewable energy and providing energy storage facilities.

We’re only a year in since we announced our accelerated target, but our progress includes swapping from diesel to hydrotreated vegetable oil in our vehicle fleet, resulting in a carbon reduction of 90 per cent. We’ve also recently replaced almost 5,000 street and car park lights with LEDs, saving 1.4 GWh of electricity a year.

There is no disputing the fact that aircraft produce the most carbon emissions at airports (accounting for 8 per cent of UK emissions in 2019 (BEIS statistics)), and this is the biggest source of our Scope 3 emissions. While these are outside of our direct control, we’re playing our part, together with airlines, to progress toward net-zero by 2050 as an industry.

We are working across the aviation industry to increase both demand and supply of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Our fuelling infrastructure is SAF-ready, although airlines are hampered by limited availability. We encourage government to work with industry to incentivise increased domestic production of SAF. We are also actively exploring the opportunities around hydrogen as a fuel source at the airport, working closely with Airbus, easyJet and Air Products.

Decarbonising flight is a difficult challenge, and no single organisation can achieve it alone. With joint leadership from government and industry, we can make this a central plank of Labour’s mission to be a green energy superpower.

Get in touch with the team at London Gatwick via public.affairs@gatwickairport.com if you would like to discuss London Gatwick’s role in supporting Labour’s missions, or search ‘Gatwick future plans’.

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