Regulation

The way in which Gatwick Airport is regulated has transformed in recent years. Previously the airport was fully regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), however after the change of ownership and through the introduction of competition within the south-east airport system this has changed.

Since April 2014, we have been licensed by the CAA to operate under a new Commitments Framework where our service levels and charges are agreed with our airline customers in a set of "Commitments" which are then endorsed by the CAA.  These Commitments determine what Gatwick can charge its customers for providing services and also establishes quality standards for those services. Every month we publish a report on how we are performing against this set of standards. 

Regulatory bodies that influence Gatwick’s operations are:

• The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the UK’s independent aviation sector regulator that is responsible for airspace policy, safety regulation, consumer protection and the economic regulation of airports. The CAA furthermore determines whether airports should be subject to economic regulation through a licence.
• The Department for Transport (DfT) is responsible for UK aviation policy.

Relevant documents

Gatwick's licence and Commitments Framework 
The CAA decision document, covering the period 2014-2021 
Gatwick's performance against our Service Commitments

Other documents are published within our investor relations section.

Submissions

You can download relevant submissions to the CAA within the Commitments Framework here:

Gatwick performance report 2018/19 
Gatwick performance report 2017/18 
Gatwick performance report October 2016 - March 2017 
Gatwick performance report April - September 2016 
Gatwick performance report October 2015 - March 2016 
Gatwick performance report April - September 2015  
Gatwick performance report October 2014 - March 2017 

Operational resilience: Principles, policies and procedures  - October 2014

CAA review of surface access

In January 2016 the CAA published its document 'CAP 1364 Consultation on issues affecting passengers’ access to UK airports: a review of surface access'. In this document the regulator asked airports to prepare good practice principles for surface access at airports. During 2016, Gatwick consulted on a set of such principles, and the consultation and decision can be found below.

Consultation on draft principles
Summary of responses
Principles

Archived documents

Documents from the previous regulatory review period are available to view in our archive.