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UK. Strong growth on European routes, and particularly to key business destinations, helped to drive passenger traffic at London Gatwick Airport up +4.3% year-on-year in October to 3.1 million.
More than 2.3 million passengers flew from the airport to European destinations, up +5.6% on October 2012, with business destinations such as Geneva, Luxembourg and Istanbul adding over 100,000 passengers. It helped the airport overcome a drop in passenger numbers on charter flights to European leisure destinations
Traffic to North America was down -10.5%, which the airport said was almost entirely due to US Airways ceasing services from London Gatwick earlier in the year. It added that next summer’s launch of three new Norwegian services to the USA would support growth going forward.
Other long-haul routes were up +9%, driven by increases on business routes to destinations including Dubai and Vietnam and complemented by growth on long-haul leisure routes including Morocco and Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, domestic traffic growth on routes to Belfast (up 13,400 passengers) and the Isle of Man (up 3,200 passengers) was offset by the withdrawal of other routes, including Manchester. Load factors were at 81.7%, in line with the prior year.
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London Gatwick Chief Financial Officer Nick Dunn said: “Gatwick continues to successfully compete with other London airports. Business and leisure passengers are choosing to fly from Gatwick thanks to the range of destinations we serve – more than any other UK airport – and our continued focus on delivering excellent service and facilities.
“In October, Norwegian announced it will start direct services between Gatwick and the USA, including New York, and easyJet’s increasing connections on key European business routes mean passengers now have even more choice in terms of destination and price. The marketplace we operate in is becoming more competitive, which can only be good news for passengers.”
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The airport experienced growth on key European and long-haul business routes |
Air China to continue Beijing route
One route that will remain on the schedule at Gatwick will be Air China’s to Beijing, with the airline confirming that the service will continue into Summer 2014. It began operating the four weekly non-stop service in May 2012.
Air China Senior Vice President and Commercial Committee Chairman Wang Mingyuan said: “Air China regards London as an important global market, and the economic and tourism prospects for China and the UK are positive.
“We are therefore pleased to reintroduce services to London Gatwick with whom we are developing a good strategic partnership.”
October developments
– Norwegian Air announced it will launch direct services from Gatwick to New York (JFK), Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale in July 2014. The airport said Norwegian’s “highly competitive prices”, which it said are up to 50% cheaper than routes available from Heathrow, would make flying from London to the USA much more affordable.
– easyJet launched its new route to Bucharest in Romania. The new link means passengers can now travel to 44 of the 50 largest European business routes from Gatwick. easyJet also announced it will start twice-daily flights to Paris from next summer, as well as services to Newcastle and Jersey. It will also launch a summer service to Brittany.
– Tickets for Garuda Indonesia’s new service from Gatwick to Jakarta, which will be the UK’s only direct route to the city, went on sale for flights starting in May 2014.
