Gatwick Airport, London
Photo: Pam Brophy, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0
Gatwick Airport (LGW) is the second busiest airport in the United Kingdom, and also the second largest in London. It is also the world's busiest single runway airport, the world's 22nd busiest airport in terms of passengers numbers, and the world's 7th busiest in terms of international passengers.
Gatwick Airport is located in Crawley, West Sussex 46 km (28 miles) south of London. The site has been used as an aerodrome going back to the 1930's. For much of its early existence, it was the site of flying school. During the war years, it was used by the British Air Force for aircraft maintenance. It already had an underground train connection since 1936.
The decision to make in 1950 to use Gatwick as the second international airport after Heathrow. It closed for extensive renovation in 1956, and was reopened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1958. The renovated airport became the world's first passenger airport with railway connection. Today it is served by two terminals, North and South Terminal. Pier 6 at North Terminal, opened in 2005, is the world's longest air passenger bridge. It spans an aircraft taxiway, allowing passengers excellent views of the airport and planes.
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