You ruffled feathers are you were not listening to the responses you were given. People are not being blase; they have heard years' of rumours along the same lines and, as yet, no substiation to those rumours. It is a useful rumour to keep staff on their toes, hence nobody from up on high denying the rumour...for over 15 years.
Gatwick is a useful project / testing ground that even generates cashflow for the business. That is about as concrete a fact as you will get on a rumour network, so use your grey matter and process the information you are given!