Gatwick Airport Escorts

London Gatwick Airport (IATA: LGW, ICAO: EGKK) is located 5 km (3.1 mi) north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, and 45.7 km (28.4 mi) south of Central London.[3] It is London's second largest international airport and second busiest by total passenger traffic in the United Kingdom after Heathrow.[4] Gatwick has the world's busiest single-use runway and is Europe's leading airport for point-to-point flights.[5]
In 2008, Gatwick ranked as the world's 28th-busiest airport in terms of passenger numbers,[6] 9th busiest in terms of international passengers[7] and 8th largest in Europeby passenger traffic.[5]
Charter airlines generally prefer Gatwick over Heathrow as a base for London and theSouth East. From 1978 to 2008, many flights to and from the United States used Gatwick because of restrictions on the use of Heathrow implemented in the Bermuda IIagreement between the UK and the US.[8][9][10][11][12] (As of 2010, Delta Air Lines andUS Airways are the only US carriers to continue serving Gatwick from the US.) The airport is a base for scheduled operators Aer Lingus, British Airways (BA), EasyJet,Flybe and Virgin Atlantic, as well as charter airlines including Monarch Airlines, Thomas Cook Airlines and Thomson Airways. Gatwick is unique amongst London's airports in having a significant airline presence representing each of the three main airline business models: full service, low/no frills and charter.[13]
BAA Limited and its predecessors, the British Airports Authority and BAA plc, owned and operated Gatwick continuously from 1 April 1966 until 2 December 2009.[14][15][16]On 17 September 2008, BAA announced it would sell Gatwick following a report by theCompetition Commission into BAA's market dominance in London and South East England. On 21 October 2009, it was announced that agreement had been reached to sell Gatwick to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), the owners of London City Airport, for £1.51 billion. Of this amount, £55 million will depend on the airport's future traffic development and its owners' future capital structure (£10 million and £45 million respectively).[17] The sale was formally completed on 3 December 2009. On this day, Gatwick's ownership passed from BAA to GIP.[18] In early 2010, GIP reportedly sold minority stakes in Gatwick to South Korean National Pension Service and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).[19][20] On 18 June 2010, it was reported that CalPERS,California's and the US's biggest state pension fund, had bought a 12.7% equity stake in Gatwick Airport from GIP.[21][22] An announcement made in the Financial Times on 21 December 2010 stated that the Future Fund, a sovereign wealth fund set up by theAustralian government, planned to buy a 17.2% stake in Gatwick Airport from GIP.
The airport is policed by the Gatwick District of Sussex Police. The district is responsible for policing the whole airport, including aircraft, and in certain circumstances, aircraft in flight. The 150 officers attached to this district include armed and unarmed officers, and community support officers for minor offences. The airport district counter man-portable surface-to-air missiles (MANPADS) by patrolling in and around the airport. A separate sub-unit has vehicle checks around the airport.