London Gatwick Airport [owned by Global Infrastructure Partners] has been recognised as the European gateway with the most new long haul routes by aviation analysis and news group, anna.aero.

To identify the winning airport in this category, anna.aero compared routes due to operate in August 2016 with August 2015 routes.

Gatwick has had 11 new routes start in those 12 months as follows: Boston, US (Norwegian Airlines); Cayo Coco, Cuba (Thomas Cook Airlines); Chongqing, China (Tianjin Airlines); Edmonton (WestJet); Holguin, Cuba (Thomas Cook Airlines); Lima, Peru (British Airways); Liberia, Costa Rica (Thomson Airways); San Francisco Oakland, US (Norwegian Airlines); San Jose, Costa Rica (British Airways); Winnipeg, Canada (WestJet); and Varadero, Cuba (Thomson Airways).

Other upcoming routes include British Airways to Cape Town and Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong.

Stephenson: ‘This trend shows no sign of abating with new long haul routes continuing apace.’

SIX MILLION AND COUNTING

Last year, six million Gatwick passengers flew to a long haul destination. The airport will want to see that number increase as it should help boost duty free and travel revenue which has been lacklustre, growing by only +2.3% in the year to March. This was mainly because spend per passenger fell by -3.7%.

Commenting on the increasing long haul pax numbers Gatwick Airport, Chief Commercial Officer, Guy Stephenson, says: “This trend shows no sign of abating with new long haul routes continuing apace from Gatwick as Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong and British Airways to Cape Town start this autumn. Gatwick’s growing range of long haul destinations provides passengers with more choice and shows the benefits of greater competition between airports.”