London Gatwick has named Stewart Wingate Gatwick chair, succeeding Baroness Margaret Ford from 1 October 2026, as the airport moves its Northern Runway programme from planning into delivery.
London Gatwick has named Stewart Wingate as its next chair, succeeding Baroness Margaret Ford, with the handover taking effect on 1 October 2026. Wingate spent 15 years as Gatwick’s chief executive before becoming Managing Director, UK Airports for VINCI Airports and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) in September 2025, and he already sits on the boards of Gatwick, Edinburgh Airport and Belfast International Airport.
Ford has chaired the board since November 2023, a period that covered the final approval stages of the Northern Runway scheme, according to the announcement by London Gatwick. That project brings the airport’s existing Northern Runway into routine use alongside the Main Runway and is one of the capital projects tracked in Airport Business Magazine’s roundup of the biggest airport capital programmes of 2026-27.
Wingate said the role comes “as the focus moves from planning to detailed design work and delivery on the Northern Runway programme,” and pointed to “significant geo-political and economic pressures which are impacting passenger numbers and significantly increasing costs” across the sector. Nicolas Notebaert, CEO of VINCI Concessions and President of VINCI Airports, and Michael McGhee, Deputy Chairman of GIP, credited Ford’s “experience in business, infrastructure, and highly regulated sectors” and said Wingate’s “in-depth knowledge of the airport” made him well placed for the growth phase ahead, per the source.
For the airport itself, the change reads as continuity rather than disruption: a chair who ran the business for 15 years takes over just as the Northern Runway shifts from paperwork to procurement. That matters to the design and construction firms already positioning for the scheme, in the way Mace Consult’s appointment to Sydney Airport’s $4.2bn capital programme signalled a similar shift from planning to delivery there. It also lands against a backdrop of runway-expansion politics familiar to anyone tracking Heathrow’s own case for a third runway, where jobs and capacity claims are central to winning approval and investor confidence.
Who this does not help: suppliers and contractors hoping for a change in strategic direction. Wingate’s appointment signals VINCI and GIP want stability through the delivery phase, not a reset, so procurement priorities on Northern Runway design and construction packages are unlikely to shift in the near term.
The takeaway: contractors, consultants and concession operators bidding into Gatwick’s Northern Runway programme should treat this as confirmation the delivery timetable holds, and use the leadership continuity as a cue to press ahead with tender preparation rather than wait for a new strategic direction that is not coming.
London Gatwick
