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Gatwick’s new monorail service has been launched, two months ahead of schedule. The airport’s owner, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) has called the shuttle’s launch, ‘the first major milestone’ in the airport’s £1bn renovation.

The original shuttle was decommissioned in September 2009 to allow for the replacement of two ancient trains, and replaced with a temporary bus service. Since then, every inch of the monorail’s track has been refurbished, and both terminal stations have been given a modern facelift.

James van Hoften, a former astronaut, was at the monorail’s launch party. Mr. Hoften clocked up more than 300 space hours in his seven-year NASA career, participating in missions with the Discovery and Challenger space shuttles in the early eighties.

The astronaut echoed GIP’s sentiments by saying – ‘the monorail is one small step in our plan to make Gatwick a great airport that passengers love to use.’

Gatwick's new trains, which were hauled into place earlier this year, are fitted with CCTV cameras and advanced ‘sensory technology,’ allowing the train to count the number of people that are waiting for its arrival.

The carriages also have more seats than their predecessors did, and provide greater accessibility to disabled travellers.

GIP wants to challenge Heathrow and Stansted for a greater share of London’s travellers. The firm has already rebranded the airport in its own image, stripping the British Airport Authority’s colours from its website in June, and dropping the word ‘London’ from its name.

The investment fund has also bought into London City Airport, and the waste management company, Biffa.