London Gatwick Airport handled 12.5million passengers during the first quarter of 2019, an increase of 1.7% compared to the same period last year.
The growth was backed by a 2.2% increase in long-haul flights, while cargo transportation also grew by 2.8% quarter on quarter.
Data published by the airport shows that North Atlantic routes supported the growth, with Tampa registering over 58% traffic growth and Winnipeg over 29%.
Similarly, Calgary witnessed an increase of over 28%, New York 28% and Orlando 15%. Further afield, passengers to Doha increased by more than 190%, Colombo more than 151%, and Buenos Aires over 58%.
In June, Qatar Airways increased flight frequency from Gatwick, responding to passenger demand for flights to Doha and beyond.
It is currently flying three times daily, up from 16 flights per week. This follows the airline celebrating its first anniversary of flying from Gatwick in May.
Gatwick Airport CEO Stewart Wingate said: “Gatwick is achieving robust growth in this spring / summer period where airport capacity is already well utilised and I’m proud even in these already busy spring / summer months we have been able to achieve yet further growth. Right across all airline types, carriers are starting new routes and increasing flight frequencies.
“We have published the final version of Gatwick’s masterplan, outlining potential options for future growth enabling the airport to make more of the world’s most exciting destinations accessible to more people than ever before while boosting trade and tourism opportunities locally and nationally.”
The airport handled a record 46.1 million passengers in 2018, an increase of 1.1% compared to the same period last year.
Gatwick Airport recently released its final master plan for the future and has revealed plans to routinely use an existing standby runway by mid-2020.
Source: airport-technology.com
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