Croydon councillor wants to change Gatwick to "London Croydon" airport

[Lady Whistledown]

Gatwick Airport should be renamed Croydon International, a politician has suggested.

Councillor Steve O'Connell, the borough's London Assembly member, urged rebranding coupled with expansion to see the airport reborn with closer links to the "economic powerhouse" of south London. He said he had discussed the idea with Stewart Wingate, Gatwick's chief executive.

Mr O'Connell, Croydon Council's cabinet member for finance, said: "Gatwick is 15 minutes from East Croydon, it is seen as a London airport and with the investment coming in to Croydon it is fast becoming the economic powerhouse of the south. So it would make sense to me to make even more of a closer alignment between greater Croydon and Gatwick, build a new runway – probably after 2020 – and then align it with Croydon.

“It then becomes the London airport of the south –Croydon is the economic powerhouse of the south, so it is Croydon International Airport. Gatwick will need an overhaul and I think there will be time for it to be reborn as Croydon International Airport."

Mr O'Connell acknowledged the name change could sound "silly" and said he had yet to canvass support for the idea.

But he added: "You go to cities where there are airports that aren’t in the town itself, they are just outside. So it doesn’t have to be slap-bang in the middle of London to be a London Airport. Stansted is London Stansted so let’s have London Croydon. We are flying the idea up the flagpole and we’ll see where it takes us."

The Kenley councillor said Mr Wingate had been noncommital on the idea of changing Gatwick's name.

Mr O'Connell said: “He was pleased to hear that somebody was supporting the idea of a Gatwick expansion. He wouldn’t dream of commenting on the name change."

 

[Philzo-93]

Bless them, they don't help themselves do they

 

[nomoremithras4me]

Will the departure lounge be renamed 'The Arthur Waite Lounge'?

 

[BattFink]

Didn't Nestle move away from this economic powerhouse to Sussex not so long ago?

 

[Cian]

If they were going to go for a dual name, you want to name it after somewhere people want to go to - London Brighton would be valid enough...

 

[Boys 9d]

If they want a named Airport, they should have kept the one they had.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

They will have to change one announcement at least "Please keep to the right hand side on the chavelator"

 

[jonsey]

Will the departure lounge be renamed 'The Arthur Waite Lounge'?

No The "Long Waite " Lounge, long wait for this to happen and even longer wait for any silverware..........

 

[Lady Whistledown]

All the sofas in the Departure Lounge will be replaced by broken wooden seats, large pillars will be erected to block the view of the airfield from the terminal windows, and all travellers will be required to wait outside for a minimum of thirty minutes after collecting their luggage before being allowed to leave the area.

 

[See-Goals]

Maybe someone can point out to him that not only does Croydon have an identity crisis already with it being a London borough in SURREY, that Gatwick is actually in West Sussex.

 

[severnside gull]

Cool idea. Flatten Selhurst and drop a runway in there instead

 

[Lady Whistledown]

In other Steve O'Connell news:

Tory councillor Steve O¿Connell claims £118k allowances because 'I'm worth it' | Mail Online

 

[Twinkle Toes]

They could call it Lootin' Airport (although it might lead to a bit of passenger confusion).

 

[chucky1973]

They will have to open a Sainsbury with in the North Terminal, to make it feel more like Croydon

 

[Boys 9d]

Won't the Caravans parked on the runway disrupt the flights?

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Councillor Steve also declares on his website that he's a big Palace fan and is sure they will go up this year.

 

[Everest]

Will they have any Groupon deals of 2 flights for the price of one?

 

[Lady Whistledown]

They could call it Lootin' Airport (although it might lead to a bit of passenger confusion).

Oh bravo

 

[pal4life]

Well he can do one!

 

[Hamilton]

I'm sure he did discuss it with Mr Wingate. I'm also certain that Mr Wingate nodded in a polite non-committal sort of way thinking "I'll use this fool to push my expansion agenda."

If pushed, I'm sure Mr Wingate will have reminded him that Gatwick have spent a significant amount of money branding the airport as "Your London Airport" and that potentially it was London that was the economic powerhouse that attracted passengers rather than the run down hovel that is Croydon.