- Julia, you have joined Gatwick Airport in the beginning of 2012 as Head of Surface Transport, what are the plans for surface access under your leadership?

- We now have completely different structure and a dedicated team of 25 people, who solely focus on surface transport and I think this is a great opportunity for us to make a difference. The team is looking after the whole of surface transport, including the strategy of all the means of getting to and from the airport – rail, bus and coach, car, taxi and car rental. For us it is about having very clear vision and strategy, which we will develop this year, and it is about delivering that strategy to the passengers.

We will have a vision workshop in April and that workshop is very much about looking at the future and developing our strategy with key stakeholders and transport professionals. We will then start developing the strategy and consult on it in spring-summer time, with plans to deliver it by October this year. The key drivers of this strategy is looking at the future, being forward thinking and innovative.

- What is the future of rail in Gatwick Airport?

- The rail services are very important to Gatwick, particularly from the airlines point of view. Just before Christmas last year, the government had released new set of franchises into the market. That includes Thameslink, which will absorb the Southern franchise, current operator of Gatwick Express, and Great Western franchise. We have to go through this franchise process not only talking to the government and see if we can create a shared vision for both air travellers and commuters, but also with all the potential franchisees.

- What are the points of influence you can have on the new franchises?

- We want to create a win-win solution for everyone who use rail in that network. Gatwick Airport is in an unusual situation, it draws in commuters, who then use bus and coach service to travel to work in the industrial zones surrounding Gatwick. So we have commuters, travelling in and out of London, commuters, who don’t necessarily work at the airport, but use Gatwick rail station, and we have air passengers. Gatwick is a true transport hub, so our vision for the future is to create great passenger experience for everyone. It doesn’t have to be a competition between commuters and air passengers, and this is the message we are communicating to the government. We see the Thameslink franchise as a great opportunity to get this right for everyone.

- You are now in the process of upgrading the Gatwick Rail Station. How is the work progressing?

- The work is progressing well, we have a new platform coming in, platform 7, which will help with the efficiency of the services; we are also refurbishing the station concourse. At the moment the guys are on site constructing and will do so until the Olympic Games, at which point the construction will stop and resume again after the Games.

- What is your view on the new ticket barriers at the rail station, which made some commuters unhappy?

- From the airport and air passengers perspective, having ticket barriers is something that we did not want, but we understand that there is an issue about the revenue protection from the rail companies. At the moment we are talking to Southern to see if in the future there is a smarter way to do it, we want to see if using modern technology we can speed up that process.

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