Images released to mark Gatwick Airport's 80th year

Historic pictures of the Queen, US president John F Kennedy and Pope John Paul II have been released by Gatwick Airport to mark the 80th anniversary of its first scheduled passenger flight.

Celebrities and royal figures are all seen at the West Sussex airport at various points in its history.

The Queen is seen arriving at the airport in 1958 - and opening its North Terminal 30 years later.

Passengers flew to Paris on the first scheduled flight on 17 May 1936.

A single fare on that flight, including the first-class train fare from London Victoria, cost four pounds five shillings - equivalent to about £160 today.

Other destinations from the airport in the first year of operation included Amsterdam, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Malmo.

Pope John Paul II is seen kissing the ground in 1982.

He arrived at Gatwick that year for a six-day visit to Britain.

It was the first papal visit to the UK.

The images include a photograph of Diana, Princess of Wales, listening to air traffic control dialogue with pilots coming in to land at Gatwick in 1988.

She was visiting the airport's control tower.

Nowadays, a flight takes off or lands at the airport nearly every minute.

Its annual passenger total will reach 41m for the first time this year.

Gatwick is still campaigning to build a second runway after the Airports Commission recommended last year that a third runway should be built at Heathrow.

The Department for Transport said that the commission's shortlisted options - new runways at Heathrow or Gatwick, or extending an existing runway at Heathrow - are viable.

Further work is being carried out on noise, pollution and compensation before a decision is made.