The new owner of Gatwick airport, Britain's second largest, has ruled out a second runway for the foreseeable future.

Sir David Rowlands, chairman of Global Infrastructure Partners which bought the site from BAA in December 2009, said he had "not a shred of interest" in developing a second runway at the airport. Its current one runway operates from two terminals, with Gatwick handling nearly 30m passengers during 2009. At a meeting with the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC), Rowlands added that a new runway was the policy of neither the government nor the airport.

He said that, even if the government started to look more favourably at the prospect of a second runway, Gatwick would have to "think very hard about spending £100m to £200m on a planning application with an uncertain decision". For its part, GACC said: "This will remove a lot of uncertainty and anxiety," but warned that campaigners would remain "on guard".

"The government and BAA have previously ruled out new runways at Stansted and at Heathrow, only to announce them a few years later." Global Infrastructure Partners is a private equity fund jointly controlled by Credit Suisse and General Electric and in addition to Gatwick owns London City Airport.