Boeing To Create More Than 100 New Jobs at Gatwick

Boeing and London Gatwick Airport (LGW) have announced plans to build a commercial aviation maintenance hangar at the airport. The proposed facility will support Boeing’s European GoldCare customers.

Utilised by more than 60 airline customers around the world, GoldCare is a flexible set of fleet engineering, materials and maintenance services tailored for airlines and managed by Boeing.  The facility will also add engineering capacity at Gatwick to support airlines as the airport continues its growth in both short and long haul services.

The £88 million facility will create around 100 direct jobs and an additional 100 indirect jobs in the area.  Planning permission has been granted by the local authority and Boeing expects construction to start at the facility later this year, for an early 2019 opening.  Building the facility is expected to support 475 jobs and contribute around £80m of gross value added (GVA) to the local economy around the airport.  Over the first two decades of operation the hangar’s activities will generate a further £135m in GVA in the Gatwick area.  This development will build on the long term partnership between Boeing and the UK Government, announced at the Farnborough International Airshow in July 2016 and the ground breaking for Boeing’s first factory in Europe, to be built outside Sheffield, South Yorkshire and twinned with a facility in Portland, Oregon.

“This is an important investment for Boeing as we commit still further to our customers in the UK and across the European region, said Mike Fleming, vice president of Fleet Services, Boeing Commercial Aviation Services. “We look forward to working with Gatwick Airport, the local authority and regulators to support our customers in Europe through our world-class commercial aviation services business.”

“Since coming into independent ownership, Gatwick has achieved record levels of growth in the numbers of passengers and flights supported by more than £1.3bn of investment in infrastructure, technology and passenger facilities,“ said Guy Stephenson, Gatwick’s Chief Commercial Officer. “This new partnership with Boeing will help us to ensure that we can continue to grow and support our operations – especially in our burgeoning long haul services – and provide world class facilities for our airlines.”

Gatwick Airport will complete an environmental study before the proposed plan is brought before the Local Planning Authority for review Subject to approval of the plan, Boeing would begin construction in late 2017 and open for operations in 2018. The precise nature and location of the hangar on the Gatwick site will be announced at a later date.