A big increase in long-haul traffic was a major contributor to continued growth at Gatwick over the past 12 months, with the airport last week reporting a 6.1% boost in revenue to £811m for the 2018-19 financial year.
The airport said the figure, combined with careful cost management, resulted in an increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of 7.3%, to £441m, and a profit after tax of £208m.
Gatwick saw a total of 46.4m passengers in the year under review, driven by a 14% increase in long-haul travel. A spokesman said around one in five passengers now travel long-haul to and from the airport as its global connections continue to grow.
Chief executive Stewart Wingate said: “These results underline our ambition to be a thriving global airport which continues to invest in our passengers and local communities while strongly supporting UK plc.
“Over the past year, we have achieved strong passenger growth, a reduction in local noise footprint, robust financial results and record investment back into the airport; and growing global connections.
“These results give us a firm foundation for future sustainable growth and we now look forward to publishing our final masterplan to help to set our long-term growth and development plan.”
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