A 7,000-jobs boom is on the way for Gatwick Airport in the next few years.

Details of the employment bonanza came as the British Airport Authority said it will spend £1 billion in the next decade to prepare the airport for a surge in both employment and passengers.

There will be a 26 per cent increase in the numbers of workers.

At present the airport employs 27,000, 8,000 of whom live within a few miles.

They run airline desks, maintain aircraft, plot plane movements, crew planes, and work at the dozens of shops in the two terminals.

Within eight years there will be 34,000 people arriving for work to cope with a 25 per cent increase in passengers.

By 2008 about 40 million people a year will pass through the airport, compared to the existing 30 million.

BAA said: "Research indicates that the extra staff can be found without the need for extra housing in the area, beyond that already planned."

The Gatwick-Crawley area has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, so workers may come from Sussex coastal areas where jobless figures are higher.

Managing director Janis Kong said the BAA is spending between £700 million and a billion pounds in the next ten years on better departure lounges, check-in areas, baggage reclaim halls and better baggage facilities.

More special stands for planes such as the Boeing 777 will be provided.