With future expansion anticipated for London Gatwick Airport the BAA started construction of the North Terminal in 1984.
London Gatwick Airport North Terminal from it's original concept was always planned throughout it's design stage by BAA with BCAL as being the main tenant. The new terminal was cladded in the royal blue colours of BCAL, it would include dedicated BCAL first and business lounges and check in area. Although BCAL were intended to be the main tenant, it was also intended to be an open terminal for the use of other airlines.
As built the North Terminal lacked a domestic facility which would have meant that BCAL would have had to have a duo terminal operation. With the North Terminal initially only having one pier (pier 5) with seven gates it would have accommodated the long haul flights by BCAL along with several European flights. BCAL intended to move entirely into the North Terminal by 1991 once a domestic facility was completed.
Obviously with the merger of BCAL and British Airways in 1988 all of the above changed. British Airways along with the former British Airtours now renamed Caledonian were to be the main tenants of the North Terminal on it's completion. With the merger of BCAL and BA completed in August 1988 a major investment by British Airways was announced. British Airways planned to develop the facility into it's second London hub. Prior to the merger, British Airways scheduled flight operations at London Gatwick were not large although combined with it's charter airline British Airtours it was well represented. At the time of the merger between BCAL and British Airways they only generally flew to destinations on the Iberian peninsula, several Italian destinations along with several European cities, including Copenhagen and Stockholm.
The first flight to depart from the new North Terminal was on the 22 March 1988, BA323 to Naples operated by a British Airways Boeing 737-236.
With Pier 4 along with a domestic facility being completed in 1991 this allowed for other airlines to relocate from the airport's South Terminal. This included Air New Zealand, Brymon Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Delta, Emirates, Maersk Air, Royal Nepal Airlines. Several other airlines also relocated during this period.
If British Caledonian Airways survived without the merger and the airline moving into a brand new terminal at London Gatwick Airport it could well have been a game changing moment for Britain's second airline. Shame really looking back on it as BCAL will always have a place in my heart to my dieing days.
FYI...Philippine Airlines never operated from the North Terminal. Garuda Indonesian moved to the North Terminal in 2012, not long after they relocated to LHR.
Today London Gatwick North Terminal looks completely different to when it was originally opened in March 1988 as the attached photo shows.
