Gatwick has managed to keep its passenger numbers in 2012/13 just above the previous year’s level despite a reshuffle of carriers at the airport.
The number of people passing through the airport in the year to March 2013 grew 400,000 or 1.2% to 34.2 million. The figure amounts to half the number that passes through Heathrow, even though Gatwick has only two terminals and one runway.
Figures were buoyed by new carriers, including Air China, Iraqi Airways, Caribbean Airlines, Vueling, Gambia Bird and Icelandair. Easyjet also began a service to Moscow, while Norwegian Air Shuttle commenced 12 new routes and British Airways increased services to Europe and the Caribbean.
These helped offset the loss of all Ryanair’s Irish routes and the failure, after only nine months, of Korean Air’s service to Seoul. A few minor carriers, including Adria Airways and Air Moldova, relocated to other airports.
A Gatwick spokeswoman said Norwegian Air Shuttle was aiming at the business traveller with a new series of ‘first wave’ morning flights to Oslo and Stockholm. The airport planned a number of initiatives itself for corporate travellers, she said. “Business travellers are a key target for us this year. We are looking at all touch points to see how we can improve them, things like car parking and security.”
Gatwick’s owner Global Infrastructure Partners is spending £1.2 billion on the airport and opens a remodelled South Terminal departures area this summer. The airport recently completed a pier to handle the Airbus A380 but has yet to persuade an airline to fly the double decker to the airport. The airport is keen to attract new long-haul routes, but has had difficulty retaining some of them. The next of these is Garuda’s launch of a service to Jakarta in October.
Airport chief executive Stewart Wingate said: “Today, passengers can fly direct to Beijing, Istanbul, Moscow and Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in Vietnam from Gatwick. This is important in the context of ensuring the UK has the international connectivity it needs to remain globally competitive. We will continue into this next financial year with the same drive and focus to create a world-class airport.”
Gatwick’s financial figures for 2012/13 will be released in June.