The chief executive of Gatwick has says he will resign if the airport is not short-listed for runway expansion.
Stewart Wingate is so confident Gatwick will be one of the main contenders for a new runway when the Airports Commission publishes its interim report into capacity in the southeast in December that he is willing to step down if proved wrong.
Asked by The Daily Telegraph if he is optimistic that Gatwick will appear on the runways short-list he replied: “I’ll resign if we are not.”
He claimed that “we are the most deliverable solution”.
Wingate was speaking as Norwegian revealed plans for low-cost transatlantic flights to three US cities next year, as reported by Travel Weekly yesterday.
Wingate hailed the move as proof Gatwick can attract more long-haul carriers and should be allowed a second runway.
“It points to a future in which more and more long-haul routes will be served by Gatwick,” he said.
Bjørn Kjos, chief executive of Norwegian, said Gatwick was an “ideal” base from which to launch low-cost long-haul flights.
“We have a lot of feeder flights in and out of Gatwick”, he said. “Gatwick probably has the biggest network in all of Europe if you take account of all of the routes flown by easyJet and Ryanair.”