A global airline alliance couldmove its operations from Heathrow to Gatwick.

Stewart Wingate, the West Sussex airport’s chief executive, said an alliance could move to Gatwick if the airport won permission for a second runway, enabling a large-scale release of take-off and landing slots.

Wingate told a national newspaper the debate about where to build the next runway in the UK was narrowing down to a choice between expanding Gatwick or Heathrow.

Gatwick is increasingly confident about persuading the government’s Airports Commission to back the case for adding a second runway at the airport – rather than expanding Heathrowor building a newhub in the Thames estuary.

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All three of the major alliances – Oneworld, SkyTeam and Star – have gone on record to state they wanted to stay at Heathrow, but Wingate said the alliances’ attitudes could change if Gatwick was allowed to build a second runway and there was a big release of “very desirable” takeoff and landing slots.

He said: “This would be the biggest shake-up in terms of the overall runway slot pool across the London airport system to happen, certainly in my lifetime,” he said.

Jeremy Taylor, chief executive at the Gatwick Diamond Business area, said Gatwick is the natural choice for the global airline alliances.

He said: “Stewart Wingate is absolutely right the doubling of available slots at Gatwick, particularly in the peak hours, is likely to tempt the larger carriers and their alliances back to Gatwick. At the moment there simply is no room for airlines to grow at Heathrow and we can see when Heathrow closes, the only alternative is Gatwick.

“The Gatwick Diamond has great potential for growing international economic trade and, following my own trip to Atlanta last week to explore opportunities, I discovered there is a real appetite for business to come here. The key issue is the international awareness of Gatwick as London’s Gate Way and this awareness can only explode with the creation of the second runway at Gatwick.”