Airport ground support equipment and services provider Rushlift GSE has celebrated its new maintenance and service facility at Gatwick Airport with a party for customers, supplier and staff.

The GBP250,000 (USD310,000) comprehensive upgrade of the facility includes the installation of LED lighting, an uprating of the electrics with a move to three-phase power, the provision of vehicle charging points, a pumped waste-oil tank and a vehicle exhaust extraction system.

Rushlift general manager Tim Willett said: “After 10 years of continued growth, it seems highly appropriate to hold this celebratory open-day party with our team and partners at our very latest 36,000 sqft. (3,500 sqm) service facility at Gatwick. The fact that this is now our fifth such facility here at the UK’s second-busiest airport helps demonstrate the growth that we have achieved over the last 10 years and our steadfast commitment to supporting our clients well into the future.”

Low-cost carrier easyJet has extended its ground support equipment contract with Rushlift by 56 months in a multi-million pound deal for the airline’s ground-handling fleet at Gatwick.

At the open-day event, easyJet regional operations and contracts manager Daniel Chapman said: “The value-add of a facility such as this is being able to strip down pieces of GSE equipment that have been running for several years and then refurbish them to a standard that is going to support us over the next five years – and to do it at some scale.”