Gatwick airport has reported record passenger growth for the past year helped by a sharp increase in long-haul.
The airport attracted 44.1 million passengers over the past year – an increase of 3.2 million from the previous 12 months.
Long-haul growth jumped 13.6 per cent and now represents one in five Gatwick passengers. It is due to welcome the world’s longest low-cost long-haul route to Singapore in September. North Atlantic routes were up 38.7%, with the two new routes launched by Norwegian in the year, Las Vegas and Oakland, San Francisco, contributing to this growth.
Gatwick CEO Stewart Wingate said: “It has been another record-breaking year and another chapter in the transformation of Gatwick. We have, this week, broken through the 45 million annual passenger mark which is 13 million passengers a year more than we served in 2009 when Gatwick came into independent ownership.
“It is a simple fact that, of the top 20 airports in the world by passenger growth, Gatwick is the only one with a single runway. We continue to offer the UK a financeable and deliverable second runway scheme which we stand ready to deliver should the Government give us the go-ahead.”
Sign up to BBT’s twice-weekly newsletter