Passenger traffic at Gatwick has been boosted by growth to “key business routes” such as Moscow, Istanbul and Oslo.
The Sussex airport said that passenger numbers went up by 4.1 per cent in November to 2.3 million, compared to the same month last year. Heathrow, by contrast, only recorded a 0.6 per cent year-on-year increase to 5.4 million passengers in November.
Gatwick added that the majority of the increase - 85,000 passengers - came from the three new routes to Moscow, Istanbul and Oslo. Long-haul passengers also rose by 9.6 per cent, mainly due to leisure services to Thailand and Morocco, as well as growth to destinations such as Dubai and Vietnam.
Although there was some decline in charter flights to European leisure destinations and a 12.8 per cent drop in traffic to North America following US Airways’ withdrawal from Gatwick earlier this year.
Nick Dunn, Gatwick’s chief financial officer, said: “Business routes are performing particularly strongly, especially to high growth markets such as Russia, Turkey and Vietnam, as well as more established markets including Dubai and Scandinavia.
“The diverse international routes we now serve, coupled with our strong domestic network – the largest of any UK airport – demonstrate how far Gatwick has come in four years of new ownership. This will only increase as we add new services to North America and Asia next year, including direct routes to New York and Jakarta.”
gatwickairport.com