The Anonymous Widower

Never Mind Heathrow: Gatwick Airport Is Close To Getting A New Runway

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.

A friend passed through at Gatwick Airport yesterday, so I went twish him well. For a change , I took a Metrobus from Sutton station to the South terminal – This route is free and doesn’t need a ticket with a Freedom Pass!

The bus was no ordinary bus, but a brand new Wrightbus hydrogen double decker from Ballymena.

It took a round-about route, as its main function is to bring local workers and passengers into the airport and handle traffic to Redhilll and Reigate, and East Surrey Hospital.

But if this is the shape of buses to come, then I’m for it. Quality was more coach than bus and performance was sparkling with little or no noise and vibration.

Gatwick and Metrobus are building a network of local hydrogen buses to bring workers and passengers into the airport and I suspect, if the Airport has the fuel, they’ll use it for other purposes, like air-side vehicles, aircraft tow-trucks and car park buses.

Gatwick unlike Heathrow has a close-by source of electricity to produce hydrogen in the soon-to-be-extended 1.6 GW Ramplion offshore wind farm, just off Brighton.

Airbus are talking about bringing hydrogen aircraft into service by 2035 and I believe that by this date we’ll be regularly seeing hydrogen-turboprops on short routes.

As someone, whose software planned the Channel Tunnel, I think it reasonable by 2035, the following projects will be completed.

• Zeroavia are talking of converting aircraft to hydrogen in the next few years.
• A number of short-haul hydrogen aircraft are in service.
• Gatwick’s new runway and terminals are built.
• Ramplion is pumping hydrogen to the airport.
• The station has been updated.
• The Thameslink frquency of trains will have been increased.

Gatwick could be the first major airport to use large amounts of hydrogen, to cut emissions.

February 24, 2025 - Posted by AnonW | Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | Airbus, Aviation, Buses, Coach, Contactless Ticketing, de Havilland Canada Dash 8, Freedom Pass, gatw, Gatwick Airport, Gatwick Airport Station, Heathrow Airport, Hydrogen Production, Hydrogen-Powered Aircraft, Hydrogen-Powered Buses, Ramplion Wind Farm, Wind Power, Wrightbus, ZeroAvia