Our reporting

Why is corporate responsibility important to Gatwick?
The aviation industry brings huge social and economic benefits to the UK. However, at the same time we are acutely aware of the need to limit the impact of our operations on the environment and our local communities.

Corporate responsibility is about recognising the need to limit our impacts and being a good neighbour.

It is also about establishing the principles for the long-term success of our business, and moving forward with our stakeholders in our plans for Gatwick’s development.

Some people say aviation can’t be sustainable – what do you say?
BAA recognises that the aviation industry must take action to reduce its environmental impacts, that’s why we have pressed for the inclusion of aviation in the EU emissions trading scheme.

We carefully manage ground and air noise and the impact of our operations on air quality. We also safeguard the biodiversity around our operations, reduce and recycle waste and actively promote the use of public transport by both passengers and airport employees.

While we will never be able to completely eradicate all of the negative impacts of the aviation industry, we believe that a balance has to be struck against its social and economic benefits.

What is Gatwick particularly good at?
Gatwick’s well-established community relations programme was set up as part of our commitment to being a good neighbour. We have contributed to the local community for many years through financial donations, and the efforts of our staff.

Our ‘Meet the Buyer’ event has enabled us to take the benefits of an international airport to the community by bringing together local suppliers with airport buyers. The 2005 event generated business worth almost £1million – twice the amount of the 2004 event. ‘Meet the Buyers’ also gives us the opportunity to communicate the sustainability principles that BAA demands of its suppliers and why they are so important.

I also value the very positive relationships we have with a wide range of airport stakeholders who have an equally wide range of interests. This isn’t something that we take for granted, and we work hard to maintain open channels of communication and to gain their trust.

What could you do better?
Last year we realised that Gatwick’s corporate responsibility agenda needs greater commitment and leadership at Board level to become fully embedded in every level of the organisation. As a result a review was carried out which focused on Gatwick’s governance structure and sustainability issues. We now have two key forums to take forward sustainability issues:  one deals with more immediate short-term matters; and the other takes a more strategic, long-term approach to sustainability.

What did you find out from your consultation with the local community on the draft master plan?
The Government’s White Paper, ‘The Future of Air Transport’, created uncertainty for our local people by not ruling out a possible second runway at Gatwick after 2019. This will only be considered if the Government’s preferred option of an additional runway at Heathrow cannot be built for environmental reasons.

We introduced blight schemes to maintain local property values, and our final master plan will be published at the end of summer 2006 to define the scale and character of future growth. We will continue to work with our stakeholders to address the challenges that the White Paper brings.

Losing the Gatwick Express would be a huge blow to the business and in my opinion it would be a backwards step. We have put forward a proposal with the service’s operators National Express to save the Gatwick Express, and lobbying for its retention will remain a key focus in the coming year.

What did you find out from your consultation process with the local community on the draft master plan?
The master plan follows an approach we developed together with our stakeholders in setting up Gatwick’s Sustainable Development Strategy, which we launched back in 2000. The strategy set a ground-breaking approach to future airport development which included over 140 commitments and we signed up to a range of legally binding obligations. This set the approach for all future consultation processes.

We were pleased with the diversity of the responses to the consultation and with the detailed nature of the comments that many of them sent to us. They confirmed the importance of us paying close attention to Gatwick's environmental and surface transport impacts, subject to which there was a broad measure of support for Gatwick's growth to make full use of its single runway capacity. The possibility of a second runway was widely, but not universally, opposed.

What’s top of your strategic agenda as you look to the future?
Our overall aim is to maximise the full capacity of Gatwick’s runway to reach at least 40 million passengers a year. We will maintain Gatwick’s position as the second busiest UK airport by continuing to build the right balance of routes and services, ensuring that passengers have a great choice of worldwide destinations.

We are also working with our business partners to promote the idea of ‘one team’, ensuring that passengers will always enjoy a seamless, high quality service across the airport.

Our campaign to retain the Gatwick Express will also remain a high priority in the next year as we continue in our efforts to increase the number of passengers using public transport.

I fully expect Gatwick’s increased commitment to lead to improved performance as we report on corporate responsibility throughout the year, and have a personal interest in ensuring this happens.

Paul Griffiths, Managing Director of Gatwick Airport.