Gatwick Airport boss moves on after 15 years

Stewart Wingate is taking on a role overseeing Gatwick, Edinburgh and Belfast International airports

The chief executive of the UK's second largest airport is moving on after 15 years in the role.

Stewart Wingate, who took up his position at Gatwick in 2010, is moving on to a newly created role overseeing three UK airports.

As managing director, UK airports, for Vinci Airports and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) he will oversee the future development and strategic direction of Gatwick, Edinburgh and Belfast International, with the chief executives of all three airports reporting to him.

Pierre-Hugues Schmit, currently chief commercial and operational officer at Vinci Airports and a non-executive director on the Gatwick board, will take over at the West Sussex airport.

Both appointments will start on 1 September.

Gatwick is one of the busiest single-runway airports in the world, serving approximately 43.2 million passengers in 2024.

Plans for a second runway were backed by the government in February.

The airport wants to move its northern runway, which is currently only used for taxiing or as a back up, and make it operational by the end of the decade.

Pierre-Hugues Schmit becomes Gatwick chief executive in September

A joint statement from Vinci and GIP said: "Stewart is one of the most experienced aviation executives in Europe and on behalf of the Board we would like to thank him for his outstanding contribution to Gatwick.

"His broad expertise and strong track record make him an ideal choice for the newly created role."

Plans for a second runway were backed by the government in February

Mr Wingate said: "It's been a privilege to lead the Gatwick team through a number of very exciting projects such as the seven-year planning process to bring our Northern Runway into routine use and more challenging periods such as the Covid pandemic.

"The airport is in a strong financial and operational position with more airlines than ever before serving our passengers.

Mr Schmit said he was "excited" to be joining Gatwick to lead it "through the next stage of its growth journey".