Gatwick CEO Stewart Wingate: Three years of consecutive month and month growth

• 3.1 million passengers travelled through Gatwick in March, +5.8% year on year, marking three years of consecutive month on month growth
• Norwegian’s Boston route kicks off Gatwick’s summer of long-haul with 20 new routes including Hong Kong, Cape Town, Vancouver, Lima and Costa Rica
• Gatwick CEO Stewart Wingate said:“Three years of consecutive month on month growth shows Gatwick continues to provide what our passengers want – more choice and better value to a greater range of destinations….An expanded Gatwick would build on this momentum and deliver yet more competition and choice for passengers – only last month Norwegian pledged 50 Dreamliners to a two-runway Gatwick which would transform the UK long-haul market.”

LONDON, 2016-Apr-14 — /Travel PR News/ — Gatwick’s long summer of long-haul has begun as the airport celebrates three years of consecutive month on month growth. 3.1 million passengers travelled through the airport this March, the busiest ever March for Gatwick, and +5.8% year on year.

Norwegian’s brand new route to Boston – starting last month – brought forward by two months, due to unprecedented demand, is the first of Gatwick’s 20 long-haul routes this summer. New routes will be arriving this summer include Hong Kong, Cape Town, Vancouver, Lima and Costa Rica (the UK’s only direct route).

This March, long-haul routes performed particularly strongly, +9.6% year on year, driven by North Atlantic routes +19.3% including Los Angeles +62.8%, Toronto +60.3% and Vancouver +35.8%.

European routes seeing strong growth this month included the Canary Islands (Fuerteventura) 38.6%, Venice 32.8% and Iceland 30.8%.

An additional 170,930 passengers travelled through Gatwick Airport in March compared to the same month in 2015. Average load factors were 83.8%.

Gatwick CEO Stewart Wingate said:

“Three years of consecutive month and month growth shows Gatwick continues to provide what our passengers want – more choice and better value to a greater range of destinations. Our 20 new routes this summer, including Hong Kong, Cape Town, Vancouver, Lima and Costa Rica, are a resounding endorsement of the airport, from our existing carriers plus new airlines including Cathay Pacific and WestJet.

“An expanded Gatwick would build on this momentum and deliver yet more competition and choice for passengers – only last week Norwegian pledged 50 Dreamliners to a two-runway Gatwick which would transform the UK long-haul market.

“Government backing for Gatwick expansion this year will mean that the UK finally and definitively has a solution to its long enduring aviation capacity issue. Our plan is legal, affordable, cleaner and quieter and will finally deliver for Britain.”

	Month				Moving Annual Total
			Growth		Apr-15	Apr-14	Growth
	Mar-16	Mar-15	(%)		Mar-16	Mar-15	(%)
Total terminal passengers (000s)	3,129.2	2,958.3	5.8%		40,796.3	38,666.6	5.5%
Market Analysis:
UK + Channel Islands	301.2	300.2	0.3%		3,621.2	3,613.9	0.2%
Ireland	134.3	116.4	15.4%		1,439.6	1,305.3	10.3%
European scheduled	1,960.6	1,816.7	7.9%		27,123.8	25,329.8	7.1%
European charter	258.5	291.7	(11.4)%		3,058.3	3,214.5	(4.9)%
North Atlantic	140.3	117.6	19.3%		1,947.2	1,728.2	12.7%
Other long haul	334.3	315.6	5.9%		3,606.4	3,474.8	3.8%
Air transport movements	21,029	20,143	4.4%		271,071	261,062	3.8%
Cargo (metric tonnes)	5,832	7,891	(26.1)%		70,003	88,399	(20.8)%

For more information contact:

Gatwick Airport press office

t: + 44 (0) 1293 505000
e: gatwickmedia@gatwickairport.com

About Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport is the UK’s second largest airport and the most efficient single-runway airport in the world. It serves more than 200 destinations in 90 countries for more than 40 million passengers a year on short and long-haul point-to-point services. It is also a major economic driver for the South East region, generating around 21,000 on-airport jobs and a further 10,000 jobs through related activities. The airport is south of Central London with excellent public transport links, including the Gatwick Express, and is part of the Oyster contactless payment network. Gatwick Airport is owned by a group of international investment funds, of which Global Infrastructure Partners is the largest shareholder.

The Government has indicated it will make a decision this year on whether Gatwick airport should be expanded. Gatwick’s second runway will deliver the UK the same number of passengers, the same number of long haul routes, better UK and regional connections, and the economic boost the UK needs, all at a dramatically lower environmental impact, at less than half the cost of Heathrow, and with no public subsidy.

For further information on Gatwick Airport see www.gatwickairport.com or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Gatwick_Airport

SOURCE: Gatwick Airport Limited

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