Gatwick Delays

I'm soon jetting off to MCO on VS15. Over the last few weeks i have noticed that there seem to be quite a few delays at Gatwick and the aircraft is now rarely leaving anywhere near on time. Does anyone know why this is or if this is common for Virgin?

Gatwick only has 1 runway in operation, therefore to make it so all of the landings and takeoffs have to be co-ordinated, which in an airport as busy as gatwick inevitibly means there'll be delays.

inotherwords, gatwick is a victim of it's own success.

The strange thing is though, that airlines are fined for missing ATC slots. I would have expected an airline like Virgin to have had preference in terms of ATC clearance than the likes of Monarch or Excel Airways for example. The inbound Orlando flight is always on time which is the strange thing!

[RichardMannion]

But then Gatwick:

Gatwick Airport - Key Facts
http://www.baa.com/main/airports/gatwic ... _page.html

BAA Gatwick is the sixth busiest international airport in the world

BAA Gatwick is the busiest single runway airport in the world

Nearly £1 billion has been committed to new developments at Gatwick over the nex ten years

BAA Gatwick is the second largest airport in the UK

BAA Gatwick currently handles around 30 million passengers a year, which is forecast to rise to around 40 million by 2010/11

Around 90 airlines fly from Gatwick to around 175 destinations worldwide

On a busy day, BAA Gatwick handles around 800 movements

Gatwick provides direct employment for approximately 28,000 people, with around 300 companies associated with the airport

September 2003 - Gatwick is voted Top UK Airport by Travel Bulletin

January 2004 - Travel Weekly Globe awards - Gatwick is voted best UK airport

The fastest growth area is the non - US bound long haul market, with a recorded growth of 23% for Caribbean and Central American routes recorded in January 2004 in comparison with January 2003. The Middle East market also grew by a staggering 30% due to the popular Dubai service, operated by Emirates out of Gatwick North Terminal.

The busiest day last year was 16 August when 134,527 passengers passed through the airport, (80,079 passengers through the South Terminal and 54,178 through the North Terminal

Around 87% of passengers come from London and the south east

BAA Gatwick is 28 miles south of London

BAA Gatwick has superb public transport links. There are more than 900 rail services a day to and from the airport and more than 40 express coach services serve the airport daily

There is one runway at the airport, which measures 3,316 metres in length and is 45 metres wide

The airport covers approximately 1,687 acres

The airport has two terminals - South Terminal, opened in 1958 and North Terminal, opened in 1988

An inch of snow on the runway and taxi-ways at Gatwick means clearing about 5,000 tonnes of snow, which can be achieved in about 40 minutes

There are approximately 1,500 light fittings on the runway and 6,500 light fittings on the taxi-ways

Gatwick's Air Traffic control tower is one of the tallest in Europe

The transit has completed 1.5 million miles since the North Terminal opened in 1988 - equivalent to two trips to the moon

There are approximately 7,000 trolleys in circulation at the airport

Grass at the airport is cut to a length of 8 - 10 inches to discourage birds from landing on the airfield

From April 2001 to February 2002, 2, 732 tonnes of waste rubbish has been recycled at the airport

Over the past year £47,000 was collected in over 50 different currencies from collection boxes at the airport's departure gates, and was donated to Project Hope, one of the largest international health charities in the world, and a range of local charities.

BAA Gatwick has recently invested over £3 million in improving toilet facilities and there are now 475 toilets at the airport

There are over 27,000 car park spaces at the airport

The top ten routes for Gatwick Airport in July 2003:
1. Malaga
2. Palma
3. Alicante
4. Faro
5. Edinburgh
6. Tenerife
7. Orlando
8. Amsterdam
9. Dublin
10. Corfu

The top ten airlines (in order of passengers carried) for the financial year 2002/03 were:
1. British Airways
2. Air 2000
3. easyJet
4. JMC Airlines
5. Monarch Airlines
6. Britannia Airways
7. MyTravel Airways
8. GB Airways
9. Virgin Atlantic Airlines
10.Excel Airways

For more facts -

Historical: http://www.baa.com/doc/765f025d12986e62 ... _main.html

Fun:
http://www.baa.com/doc/b072599ca33fdd04 ... _main.html

Thanks,
Richard

All of the above is fair comment which i fully understand and appreciate Gatwick's status as the busiest single runway airport in the world. I was just trying to establish if there had been any technical issues with aircraft or other unforseen delays.

Can you be more specific and say give some examples out of how many departures how many were actually delayed and for how long.

There have not been any major delays in the last few weeks!

From your post you would think that everyday all VS flights are delayed!!

Wow, I'm impressed.What a mind of information!