Rushlift GSE has marked its tenth anniversary by opening a new state-of-the-art maintenance and service facility at London Gatwick Airport.
More than 100 guests attended an open day designed to showcase the new facility, among them customers, suppliers, Rushlift staff and management.
Welcoming guests, Tim Willett, general manager and director of Rushlift GSE, said: “After ten 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 sq ft service facility at Gatwick.
“The fact that this is now our fifth such facility here at the UK’s second busiest airport demonstrates the growth that we have achieved over the last ten years and our steadfast commitment to supporting our clients well into the future.”
The new centre is a long-term investment by Rushlift GSE involving a £250,000 comprehensive upgrade of the facility: including 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. To further increase operational resilience, the number of on-site service engineers working across the three Rushlift GSE sites will be increased to 41.
Rushlift GSE recently secured a 56-month extension to its contract with easyJet. The new multi-million-pound deal continues a pre-existing five-year agreement to supply, manage and maintain easyJet’s ground-handling fleet at Gatwick. In total over 600 ground support assets are managed by Rushlift GSE under a progressive programme of innovation and equipment enhancement, which includes an on-going transition from diesel to electric vehicles.
Daniel Chapman, easyJet’s regional operations and contracts manager, said of the new service centre: “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.”
Image: Rushlift GSE
