Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived by air from London Airport at Heathrow.

Wearing a fitted blue coat and a blue and white hat, she was greeted by Lord Munster, the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, and the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, Harold Watkinson.

The Queen and the Duke inspected a guard of honour of 10 airline captains.

Then they walked to the main airport building through the pier or "finger" that allows passengers to get to their planes under cover - the first such structure ever built at a British airport.

Controversial expansion

The government decreed Gatwick London's second airport five years ago and it has been closed until now for major re-development.

The royal couple were shown models and plans of the new layout before the Queen made a speech at a restaurant overlooking the airfield and unveiled a commemorative plaque.

More than �7m has been spent rebuilding the airport and adding a railway station - Gatwick claims to be the first in the world to combine airport, trunk road and rail facilities into one unit.

But the ambitious venture has not been without its detractors.

Referring to the controversy caused by the expansion, Her Majesty said in her speech: "I sympathise with all those people whose lives are going to be affected by this airport, but I hope that there will be some measure of compensating advantage to local inhabitants when it is in full operation."

Mr Watkinson then reminded those present that the Queen had inaugurated the central terminal at London Airport two and a half years ago, marking a major step in the development of British civil aviation.

"Nobody will know better than your Majesty the fascinating possibilities in front of us as new types of aircraft bring the Commonwealth, and indeed the whole world, closer together.

"We hope that this new airport at Gatwick has been planned to fit the new air age that lies ahead," he said.

	E-mail this story to a friend