Gatwick Airport and Boeing propose to build new maintenance hangar

Gatwick Airport and Boeing have announced they have entered into exclusive discussions to build a commercial aviation maintenance hangar at the airport.

The proposed facility, subject to local authority planning permission, will add engineering capacity to support the Gatwick airline community’s immediate operational needs to continue its record growth in both short and long haul services. It would also support Boeing’s European GoldCare customers. Utilised by more than 60 airline customers around the world, GoldCare is a flexible set of fleet engineering, materials and maintenance services tailored for airlines and managed by Boeing.

Gatwick Chief Commercial Officer, Guy Stephenson said:

“Since coming into independent ownership, Gatwick has achieved record levels of growth in the numbers of passengers and flights supported by more than £1.3bn of investment in infrastructure, technology and passenger facilities.

“This new partnership with Boeing will help us to ensure that we can continue to grow and support our operations – especially in our burgeoning long haul services – and provide world class facilities for our airlines.”

Vice President of Fleet Services, Boeing Commercial Aviation Services, Mike Fleming said:

“This is an important investment for Boeing as we commit still further to our customers in the UK and across the European region. We look forward to working with Gatwick Airport, the local authority and regulators to support our customers in Europe through our world-class commercial aviation services business.”

The development would support further a joint commitment made by the UK Government and Boeing in July 2016 on a long-term initiative for prosperity and growth in the UK. The multi-million pound facility is expected to support more than 100 jobs at Boeing and its suppliers in the region.

Gatwick Airport will complete an environmental study before the proposed plan is brought before the Local Planning Authority for review. Subject to approval of the plan, Boeing would begin construction in late 2017 and open for operations in 2018. The precise location of the hangar on the Gatwick site will be announced at a later date.