HS2 chair Sir David Higgins has been appointed as the new chairman of Gatwick Airport, replacing Sir Roy McNulty, who has led the Gatwick board for five years.

Higgins will continue as chair of HS2 and will also retain his position on the board of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. McNulty will stay on the Gatwick board as deputy chairman.

Higgins’s arrival comes only months after Gatwick lost out to Heathrow as the government’s preferred choice for extra runway capacity in the south east of England. Gatwick still plans to proceed with a major £1.2bn investment to upgrade its facilities.

Higgins has been HS2 chairman since January 2014 and has helped the project through the hybrid bill phase as it prepares for construction to start in 2017. His previous roles include six years as chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority from 2005 and 2011 and a three year spell as chief executive of Network Rail.

Higgins commented: “The progress Gatwick has made over recent years under Sir Roy McNulty’s chairmanship has been remarkable. While the case for Gatwick expansion in the future remains very strong, the challenge for Gatwick now is to continue to invest so it can maximise the use of its existing facilities and so can do even more for Britain in the coming years.”