Airport News

This marks the best year-on-year improvement at the world’s busiest single runway airport in any month since November 2011, and Gatwick says the Easter period was a factor in the strong figures.

New services to key business cities such as Paris, Brussels, Strasbourg and Tel Aviv contributed to growth of 20.8% in European traffic, while high growth markets included Russia and Turkey, that also helped the surge.

Passenger traffic on North Atlantic routes rose by 3.0% while other long-haul routes saw increases of 5.7%, helped by new services to China and Saudi Arabia, while Vietnam routes are performing well.

London Gatwick chief executive officer, Stewart Wingate, explains: “The fundamental reason for Gatwick’s significant growth in April is its ability to support a mix of airline models – low cost, charter and full service.No other airport in London can do this.”

Wingate also pressed the need for a second runway at London Gatwick, which has been shortlisted by the Airports Commission as a solution to solve the capacity needs in the South East of the UK.