Ministers have come under attack for appointing the boss of Gatwick to co-chair the government’s Aviation Council at the same time that the airport is lobbying to increase its capacity by 70 per cent to become nearly as large as Heathrow.
Local campaigners against expansion of the West Sussex airport have lodged a formal complaint with Mark Harper, the transport secretary, over his appointment of Stewart Wingate, the chief executive of Gatwick, to the government body.
Last month the Planning Inspectorate began a detailed examination of Gatwick’s application to increase its capacity to 78 million passengers a year, fully utilising its existing second, northern runway and taking it to just short of the 80 million passenger capacity of Heathrow, its near-neighbour and rival. A
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