Eco-protesters have camped near the boundary of Heathrow and invaded Stansted's runway, but have paid very little attention to Gatwick. They, along with most of the aviation industry, have assumed that the only options for airport expansion are new runways at Heathrow and Stansted.

Yet a dispassionate observer might ask why Britain's second-biggest airport, with flight paths over sparsely populated countryside and the best road and rail links, was not being considered to relieve airport congestion. The answer is that BAA, which owns all three airports, has been content not to press for the expansion of Gatwick while the Government supports new runways at Stansted and Heathrow. With the Competition Commission about to break up BAA's monopoly, though, the company wants to get the best price that it can for Gatwick. Passenger numbers fell by 13.5 per cent last month and the only way BAA is likely to get anywhere near the £2 billion price is by talking up the development potential. Rather like a house seller advertising the possibility of a new building at the bottom of the garden, BAA has told bidders that a second runway could double the airport's capacity. It has sent them a confidential memorandum containing a map and details of safeguarded land.

With a new owner likely promote vigorously the case for expanding Gatwick, the Government may find its aviation policy being overtaken by events. The cosy arrangement between the Department for Transport (DfT) and BAA will be shattered next year when Gatwick is sold and the commission begins the process of forcing the sale of Stansted. It will be much harder for the DfT to dictate the location of development when the three biggest London airports are owned by three different companies, each wanting to take advantage of the projected doubling in passengers by 2030.

Plane Stupid, the group that caused chaos at Stansted this month, will soon be surveying Gatwick's boundaries for weak points.

Times Archive, 1958: £7m airport opened

London's second major airport came into operation today when the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh opened a new and extended Gatwick

• Gatwick: How Not to Do It, 1953

• Letter: The Gatwick project, 1952

Related Links

• Secret plans revealed for second Gatwick runway

• Residents to fight any Gatwick second runway

• Crawley weighs job hopes from Gatwick expansion against destruction of homes

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