Article from BTNews 12 MARCH 2018
Gatwick's five-year record
Celebration was in the air at Gatwick last week as the airport announced its 60th month of consecutive growth in February with 3m passengers, 7% more than the 2017 figure.
Officials noted Gatwick was also set to increase its global connectivity further with Qatar Airways announcing a new double-daily service to Qatar, starting in May.
Gatwick’s busiest February so far was fuelled by further significant growth in the airport’s longhaul routes, up 16.7% across the month, helping to drive a 37.2% increase in the volume of cargo handled.
Asia routes performed well as thousands of passengers travelled to and from the Far East to celebrate Chinese New Year. Hong Kong was up by 74.4%, while Tianjin’s growth also continued, up 12.9% year-on-year.
Transatlantic routes also showed big increases in February, with Fort Lauderdale 80% up, Oakland/San Francisco 67.6% up and New York 43.4% up. New routes from Norwegian this month to Austin and Chicago are keeping up the momentum.
Gatwick CEO Stewart Wingate said: “February’s figures are the latest demonstration of Gatwick’s importance as a vital piece of UK infrastructure providing global connectivity at a time when the country needs it most.
“We have exciting plans for growth maximising the use of our existing facilities while we also offer the country the prospect of a financeable and deliverable new runway scheme.”
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