Editing Gatwick Airport (section)

===Early years===
[[File:Douglas DC-6 EC-AUC TASSA LGW 29.08.64 edited-2.jpg|thumb|A [[Douglas DC-6]] in front of the then-new terminal at Gatwick Airport in 1964]]
[[File:BAC_111-201AC_One-Eleven,_British_Caledonian_Airways_AN1809004.jpg|thumb|A [[BAC 1-11]] with the main terminal building at Gatwick Airport in 1973]]
The land on which Gatwick Airport stands was first developed as an [[aerodrome]] in the late 1920s. The [[Air Ministry]] approved commercial flights from the site in 1933, and the first terminal, "[[Beehive, Gatwick Airport|The Beehive]]", was built in 1935. Scheduled air services from the new terminal began the following year. During the [[Second World War]], the airport was taken over by the military and was known as '''RAF Gatwick'''. After the war, the airport returned to its civilian capacity. The airport proper was built in the mid-1950s opening in 1956. The airport buildings were designed by [[Yorke Rosenberg Mardall]] between 1955 and 1988.<ref>{{cite book| first=Alan| last=Powers| title=In the Line of Development: FRS Yorke, E Rosenberg and CS Mardall to YRM, 1930–1992| year=1992| publisher=RIBA Heinz Gallery| isbn=1-872911-20-X}}</ref>

In the 1960s, [[British United Airways]] (BUA) and [[Dan-Air]] were two of the largest British independent<ref group=nb>independent from [[government-owned corporation]]s</ref> airlines at Gatwick, with the former establishing itself as the dominant scheduled operator at the airport as well as providing a significant number of the airport's non-scheduled services and the latter becoming its leading provider of [[inclusive tour]] charter services.<ref>Cooper, B., ''Got your number'', ''Golden Gatwick'', ''Skyport'', Gatwick edition, Hounslow, 6 June 2008, p. 12</ref> Further rapid growth of charter flights at Gatwick was encouraged by the [[Ministry of Aviation]], which instructed airlines to move regular charter flights from Heathrow. Following the takeover of BUA by [[Caledonian Airways]] at the beginning of the following decade, the resulting airline, [[British Caledonian]] (BCal), became Gatwick's dominant scheduled airline during the 1970s. While continuing to dominate scheduled operations at Gatwick for most of the 1980s, BCal was also one of the airport's major charter airlines until the end of the 1970s (together with Dan-Air, [[Laker Airways]] and [[British Airtours]]).<ref name="... Bloomers">Iyengar, K., ''Bermuda Bloomers'', ''Golden Gatwick'', ''Skyport'', Gatwick edition, Hounslow, 8 February 2008, p. 18</ref>

As a result of conditions imposed by Britain's [[Monopolies and Mergers Commission]] on the takeover of BCal by the then newly privatised [[British Airways]] (BA) at the end of the 1980s, Dan-Air and [[Air Europe]] assumed BCal's former role as Gatwick's dominant scheduled short-haul operator while BA continued in BCal's erstwhile role as the airport's most important scheduled long-haul operator. Following the demise of Air Europe and Dan-Air (both of which had continued to provide a significant number of charter flights in addition to a growing number of scheduled short-haul flights at Gatwick) in the early 1990s, BA (having purchased Dan-Air) began building up Gatwick into a secondary [[airline hub|hub]] (complementing its main hub at Heathrow). These moves resulted in BA becoming Gatwick's dominant airline by the turn of the millennium.<ref name="... up">Iyengar, K., ''The only way is up'', ''Golden Gatwick'', ''Skyport'', Gatwick edition, Hounslow, 11 April 2008, p. 16</ref><ref>Iyengar, K., ''Heading North'', ''Golden Gatwick'', ''Skyport'', Gatwick edition, Hounslow, 9 May 2008, p. 16</ref> BA's subsequent decision to de-hub Gatwick provided the space for [[easyJet]] to establish its biggest base at the airport and become its dominant airline.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.anna.aero/2012/08/02/easyjets-biggest-base-at-london-gatwick-reaches-50-aircraft-and-almost-100-routes/ |title=easyJet's biggest base at London Gatwick has 50 aircraft and almost 100 routes; Spain remains No. 1 market in summer (> Airline Analysis) |publisher=Anna.Aero |date=12 August 2012 |access-date=4 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205013444/http://www.anna.aero/2012/08/02/easyjets-biggest-base-at-london-gatwick-reaches-50-aircraft-and-almost-100-routes/ |archive-date=5 February 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>