Press Release

Gatwick makes it a HapPIER first birthday for state-of-the-art bridge


16 May 2006

BAA Gatwick is delighted to celebrate the first birthday of Pier 6, the airport’s iconic airpassenger bridge - the largest of its kind in the world to span a live taxiway. Within its first year of operation, Pier 6 has welcomed in the region of 3.4 million passengers and around 33,000 aircraft have arrived or departed from its 11 new pier served aircraft stands.

On 16 May 2005 Pier 6 was officially opened by the then Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling, following a £110 million investment by BAA. The bridge is high enough for a 747 jumbo jet to pass underneath making it the world’s largest. A specially chartered British Airways 747-400 was the first aircraft to taxi under the bridge in 2004 with its tailfin clearing the underside of the bridge by around 2 metres. The air passenger bridge has recently received national recognition, winning major project awards at the ‘Quality in Construction’, Construction News Awards 2006 and the’ Structural Achievement Award’, Institution of Structural Engineers, 2005.

Paul Griffiths, Managing Director, BAA Gatwick commented: “ We have seen strong growth at Gatwick in the last year, with end of year passenger figures totalling over 32 million and just last month, April’s passenger figures showed an impressive increase of 12.5% compared to the same month last year. Pier 6 is an integral part of this growth and represents our commitment to investing a planned £850 million over the next 10 years on facilities and improvements to provide great customer service and infrastructure to meet the needs of our
customers and airline partners today and in the future. Pier 6 also combines BAA’s commitment to sustainable development, using innovative design and high quality specifications to deliver an exciting new passenger experience. It also supports the airport’s planned growth to welcome up to 40 million passengers a year. We are thrilled at the success of the project and look forward to another busy year for Pier 6 and Gatwick.”

Pier 6 and its air bridge gives passengers spectacular 360 degree views of the world’s busiest single runway in operation, providing access to 11 new pier served aircraft stands. It will save 50,000 coach journeys every year between the North Terminal and remote aircraft parking stands, reducing vehicle emissions and improving customer service levels for arriving and departing travellers.

Key Facts

• 197 metres long, spanning 128 metres and weighing 2,700 tonnes
• At the tallest point it is 32 metres high and has 2260 metres of external glazing unit
• 3,000 people were involved in the project with over 1 million man hours having been safely conducted on the project
• For every 1 degree centigrade change in air temperature the bridge expands or contracts by 1.5 mm
• Airlines using Pier 6 include British Airways, First Choice, Etihad, GB Airways, First Choice and Astraeus
• Top destinations include Spain, Italy, France, Canary Islands, Domestic flights in the UK, United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Germany, Greece and Portugal

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