A total of 3.1m passengers (+5.8%) used Gatwick Airport in March, with airport management pointing to three years of consecutive month-on-month growth.

 

This news comes just as Norwegian’s Boston route kicks off Gatwick’s summer of long haul – including 20 new routes to Hong Kong, Cape Town, Vancouver, Lima, Costa Rica and other destinations.

 

Commenting, 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.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Airport management adds that 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%.

 

By contrast, European routes experiencing 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%.