Vintage Gatwick photos as airport turns 60 prove the golden age of plane travel wasn’t always perfect
This weekend, Gatwick airport celebrates 60 years since it was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in its modern form
GATWICK the second busiest airport in the UK, with 45 million passengers passing through its doors every year.
But it wasn't always this way - this weekend the airport celebrates 60 years since it officially opened in its modern form and at that time there were just 186,000 passengers passing through a year.
In celebration of the milestone, we've dug out some vintage pictures of Gatwick airport from yesteryear - when no one needed to put liquids in tiny bags, plane travel was only for the well-off and people still thought flying in a suit was a good idea.
Opened by Queen Elizabeth II on June 9, 1958, Gatwick became the first airport in the world to combine air, road and train travel in one single unit.
The £7.8 million construction project, which took more than two-and-a-half years to complete made the airport the first in the world to have a direct railway link.
Since then, new innovations include the opening of a second terminal, a new control tower, Gatwick Express and the passenger bridge.
Increased passenger demand and the introduction of bigger aircraft like the Jumbo Boeing 747-400, meant that they airport had to build three runway extensions in 1964, 1970 and 1973 - the latter enabling non-stop flights from the US West Coast to begin.
This resulted in an ever-increasing number of passenger planes arriving daily, so Gatwick had to open a new control tower in 1984, which at the time of completion was the tallest in the UK.
In the same year the Gatwick Express was launched.
In 1988, the Queen returned to open the £200m North Terminal, which meant the main terminal was renamed as the South.
Just 10 years later, a fourth runway extension was required, with easyJet’s residence at the airport starting the following year in 1999.
During the noughties £60m was spent on extensions to both the North and South terminals.
This was followed by the construction of the biggest air passenger bridge in the world, totalling 194m in length.
Then in 2016, Gatwick opened the world’s largest self-service bag drop zone, aimed at dramatically reducing passenger queues.