Passenger Terminal World - Passenger Terminal World January 2026
Single minded
Anthony James 2025-12-06 12:28:42
“Making air travel efficient, accessible and affordable for all is very important to me Pierre-Hugues Schmit”
Ahead of PTE World 2026 in London, Pierre-Hugues Schmit, the new CEO of London Gatwick, Europe’s busiest single-runway airport, tells PTW his plans
Please tell us about your career path so far.
Before starting as London Gatwick chief executive, I was chief commercial and operational officer at Vinci Airports for eight years. This role covered the entire Vinci Airports portfolio of 70 airports in 14 countries. I oversaw a broad range of activities, from airport operations to air service development, commercial services and cargo. While at Vinci, I was also a non-executive director on the London Gatwick board, so I was already familiar with many key business issues and operational areas of focus at the airport.
Prior to joining Vinci, I worked in different environments, but all were related to aviation. My first job, more than 25 years ago, was flight dispatch on a French aircraft carrier. After some civil aviation academic training, I worked at the French CAA for seven years. Then I was an advisor to the French Transportation Minister, before joining Aéroports de Paris as deputy director of the general aviation department, responsible for the operation of 12 small airports in the Paris area. I left there in 2013 to co-found a French airline, before joining Vinci in 2017.
And your current role?
One of the most important aspects of my role is making sure London Gatwick continues to be the airport for everyone. Making air travel efficient, accessible and affordable for all is very important to me. As we increase the number of flights and passengers on an already extremely busy runway, the challenge is to maintain our strong quality of service and our competitive cost structure.
My other big challenge is to engage our Northern Runway plan, for which we just received approval from the UK government, while keeping our operations at least at today’s level of service and performance. Our Northern Runway plan includes moving the runway (currently used as a standby) 12m so that we have a second fully functioning runway, paving the way to meet future demand for air travel at the airport. This is an exciting program that will generate 14,000 new jobs and provide an annual £1bn [US$1.3bn] economic boost to the region.
Where should airports focus their energy and investment?
It’s important to strike a balance between meeting passenger needs – which are likely to evolve in the future – and making sure airports run efficiently and more sustainably. So I think successful airports need to be open to innovation and technology developments where they can deliver enhanced services to passengers and achieve gains for the airport ecosystem, whether on capacity, costs, resilience or sustainability. For example, innovations in self-service technology and passenger security have helped London Gatwick be the efficient airport it is today. But there are many areas where we continue to explore advances; for instance, in aircraft turnaround management or the handling of luggage.
Assisted travel also deserves special focus as it is a category where the demand keeps increasing and it is important to maintain a world-class service. I was therefore delighted when our assisted services achieved top marks from the Civil Aviation Authority – the UK aviation regulator – having helped more than 800,000 passengers who need support to travel through the airport across the year.
What makes a great airport retail experience?
Every airport is unique but for me providing a strong retail experience means providing top global and national brands that passengers love and recognize, but also some more locally inspired options. Linked to our wider sustainability policy, we’re making sure local produce such as wines, spirits, cheeses and cosmetics are sold in some of our airport outlets. For example, we’ve just launched a carousel unit – a bespoke retail space – which offers a flexible, high-visibility platform for small, boutique local businesses to connect with London Gatwick’s large, diverse and international passenger base. We also offer experiences to our passengers with stylists in our departure lounges, food tastings and seasonal events with our retailers.
It’s also important we create a unique sense of place for our passengers, not only through our retail and restaurant provision, but also the look and feel of the departure lounge. To this end, we’ve just completed a £17m transformation of both our international departure lounges. These now provide our passengers with a more personalized experience and a relaxing place to spend their pre-flight time how they choose whether relaxing, working, shopping or eating. The investment includes contemporary seating with accessible power points, planting, artwork and better wayfinding, so both our lounges now reflect London Gatwick’s status as a major international airport.
“The use of technology has effectively increased throughputs in core areas of the airport”
In addition, of course, all airports must maintain strong vigilance on safety and security. Gatwick has a proud history of engaging with airport partners to ensure safe operations, including cyber and drone threats. I am sure the entire industry will continue to focus on these vital objectives.
More broadly, I believe airports should continue looking at optimizing existing infrastructure. For instance, the use of technology has effectively increased throughputs in core areas of the airport, such as check-in, security and baggage reclaim, while remaining within the same footprint. Another key factor in our success is the high level of integration of services within the direct management of the airport; for example, with the airport’s security search areas, where we have strong commitment from our teams and good engagement with passengers. This to me echoes very well with London Gatwick’s vision ‘to be the airport for everyone, whatever your journey.’
What are some of LGW’s most recent and significant investments and projects?
We’ve spent seven years getting our Northern Runway plans approved by the UK government; the go-ahead is extremely positive for the long-term future of the airport, the wider region and UK growth. We went through a rigorous planning process and prepared a very thorough application, meeting all the planning requirements at every stage. This included two full public consultations and a detailed six-month public examination, where any member of the community or interested groups could have their say.
But there are many other good stories. For instance, before summer 2025 we completed the refurbishment of all our security lanes to the latest standard. These were operational ahead of the UK government deadline, so all our passengers can now leave liquids up to two liters and electrical items, such as laptops, in their cabin bags. In parallel, we took the opportunity for a major overhaul of our processes, leading to today’s world-class performance, with 97% of passengers processed in less than five minutes.
Another significant investment is a £140m [US$183m] project to extend the airport’s Pier 6. When it opens in 2027, we will have eight new stands providing pier service to more than one million passengers currently traveling to remote stands by bus each year. When reviewing our original plans, we took a more sustainable approach to construction. Reprofiling some retail space and a reconfiguration of the boarding gates reduced the width of the building, and relocating the service road facilitated a two-story building rather than three. We’ve also moved the structure to a hybrid steel and timber frame. These, and other, measures mean we have reduced the amount of embodied carbon related to this project by over 50%.
We have also resurfaced our Main Runway and built a new Rapid Exit Taxiway (RET), which means we now get aircraft off our Main Runway quicker. Along with our time-based separation approach, the A-CDM deployment and a new departure sequencer, we have added even more efficiency and resilience to this vital airport asset.
How important is growth for LGW?
Our Northern Runway growth plan is critical to unlocking our full potential and meeting future demand, with more than 75 million passengers expected by the late 2030s. However, we can’t wait for dualrunway operations to keep growing. We currently have 43 million passengers to serve and we aim to keep growing our airline portfolio and become even more efficient.
Our airlines team works incredibly hard, and we continue to receive very strong interest for our slots from airlines worldwide, both existing and new. We currently offer passengers an outstanding choice of over 55 airlines, which is more than ever before. Our long-haul network has grown particularly strong across Asia, Africa and the Middle East over the last year.
Our commercial plans for 2026 are to capitalize on all the good efforts on service and operations demonstrated in 2025. We also hope to better utilize our midday and afternoon capacities, which are separate from our first waves. And we believe that our pricing agility – including the fact that airlines can negotiate bespoke contracts with us – should encourage the most cost-conscious airlines to fly from our airport when entering or expanding their London market share.
“London Gatwick has the potential to be the first airport in its category to become net zero”
LGW WAS THE FIRST UK AIRPORT TO EARN ACI ACCESSIBILITY ACCREDITATION
How can that growth be balanced with your sustainability goals?
Sustainability is at the heart of our business. London Gatwick has the potential to be the first airport in its category to become net zero for its own Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030.
To secure this, we have an ambitious £250m [US$326m] net zero program. An important part of this investment will see us decarbonizing heating and eliminating natural gas in 50 key airport buildings, including our North and South terminals. This significant but lengthy process is underway, and we expect to start seeing the benefits over the second half of this decade. We’ve also just taken delivery of the first 47 out of what will be a 300-strong EV fleet by 2030.
Further demonstrating our leadership on decarbonization, we’ve also issued two €750m (US$870m) bonds to the market. The interest rates for these bonds are adjusted based on whether the airport achieves two carbon reduction targets. These include reducing Scope 3 aviation emissions related to the landing and take-off cycle at the airport, and we were among the first airports to do this. The bonds and the framework supporting them, align our financial strategy with our sustainability ambitions and are a clear demonstration of our commitment to achieve the airport’s climate-related goals.
The airport’s overarching Decade of Change sustainability strategy is broad and comprehensive. It aims to achieve 10 important goals over 10 years in areas that align with the United Nations sustainable development goals. So, for example, it includes support for community-focused objectives related to the local economy, skills, employment and education, in addition to other targets related to the environment, such as achieving net zero, reducing waste and water use, and protecting biodiversity.
How do you view Gatwick within the overall aviation ecosystem?
Before I became CEO, I knew London Gatwick as a global leader in airport efficiency and operations. I still hold that view and see us as a role-model airport in this respect.
The airport has also had a unique position in the UK market for many years. It offers travel opportunities for everyone, with a very wide choice of airlines and destinations driving real competition and ticket price efficiency. For example, the airport has previously been a pioneer for low-cost long-haul travel, providing passengers with another travel option in addition to the airport’s existing legacy and charter long-haul services. This is an area we continue to serve with Wizz Air’s new XLR flights to destinations in the Middle East.
As I’ve said, demand from airlines to fly from London Gatwick continues to be very strong, and we will look to serve this demand by becoming even more efficient and, ultimately, adding new capacity with our Northern Runway to ensure we continue to be competitive against other leading European airports.
London continues to be one of the biggest aviation markets in the world, and our passenger numbers are predicted to grow significantly. I want us to offer our passengers an increasing choice of airlines and destinations, so they can quickly and easily get to where they need to go, no matter what their budget or reason for travel.
“Our teams work extremely hard to provide an efficient, enjoyable and accessible experience”
What is your message to fellow airports and everyone attending PTE World?
Airports play a crucial role in the economy, connecting people, supporting trade, tourism and the supply chains that keep our economy moving, bringing in foreign investment and creating jobs.
However, experience tells us we cannot take success for granted and that we’re all part of a very competitive industry.
To stay competitive, we need to create the right conditions for success. And that means three things: we must continue to adapt and innovate; we also need to stay close to what passengers need and what they can afford, both now and in the future; and we must run operations that are sustainable.
London Gatwick plays a vital role in the UK by providing seamless access to global and domestic markets and delivering substantial trade and economic benefits for the Southeast region and beyond.
Our teams work extremely hard every day to ensure we provide an efficient, enjoyable and accessible experience for passengers. I’m looking forward to working with everyone to keep improving the service we provide and realizing the significant growth opportunities that lie ahead. I’m excited to be leading the airport through the next stage of its growth journey.
What are the benefits of being part of the wider Vinci Airports Group?
Where we can, we try to maximize synergies with the Vinci and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) airport networks through the sharing of best practice in innovation, new technology and process optimization. For example, London Gatwick is one of three innovation hubs in the Vinci airport network, along with Lyon and Lisbon airports.
An innovation we initiated and have shared across our networks includes the new Smart Stands technology, which we’re currently rolling out more widely across the airport. The technology allows a Turn Coordinator to manage many aircraft turn operations from a single control room, without needing to attend every arriving aircraft. Our proof of concept showed that operators could safely perform entry onto stand, jet bridge operations and door control from the control room. ‘Turn events’ were also recorded automatically and artificial intelligence predicted when the aircraft was ready to leave to a high degree of accuracy. This innovation has the potential to enable consistently fast aircraft turn arounds and help improve punctuality.
We’ve also shared best practices on processes to reduce aircraft noise with airports from Australia in GIP’s airport network, and with Vinci airports in Belgrade and Lisbon.
Being part of these groups is also an opportunity for career opportunities across the globe; there are quite a few examples of our talented employees making moves, from Gatwick to Lisbon, Edinburgh, Sydney or Belfast or from Japan or Cambodia to Gatwick. It is a fantastic opportunity for the promotion of Gatwick talent, but also for Gatwick to benefit from diverse experience.
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Single minded
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