Record-breaking November for Gatwick Airport flights

Gatwick Airport notched up more than three million passengers in November - the first time it has ever reached that milestone for the month.
Gatwick AirportGatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport

A statement from Gatwick says that a growth in long-haul routes is a major factor.

The number of passengers flying to long-haul destinations was up by 11.9% – as Gatwick revealed that one in six of its 46 million annual passengers are now long-haul travellers.

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Services to Kigali, Rwanda and Colombo, Sri Lanka helped to drive the growth, with both routes up 134.1% and 110% respectively.

Gatwick’s cargo traffic also continued its upward surge, growing by 5.3% compared with the same month last year.

Additionally, November saw Gatwick announce its first flights to Brazil, with a new low-cost, long-haul Norwegian route to Rio de Janeiro set to take off in March 2019.

Elsewhere, the November short-haul picture suggests that festive-themed trips to visit Father Christmas started early this year.

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The number of passengers travelling to Tromsø and Rovaniemi – two of the main entry points to the Lapland region – rose by 62.8% and 53.9% respectively.

Gatwick recently revealed that it will offer more flights to Lapland than any other UK airport this winter.

Domestically, the Isle of Man was the destination with the highest percentage growth in November, up 8.5% compared with the same month last year. Jersey grew by 6.4%, while Inverness saw a 4.2% passenger increase.

Stewart Wingate, Chief Executive Officer, London Gatwick said: “November’s record-breaking passenger and cargo numbers highlight the imperative role that Gatwick continues to play for the country. The growth in the number of passengers travelling to Kigali is a great example of how our extensive range of long-haul routes is being embraced by business and leisure travellers from across the UK.

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“I’m also delighted that our network has now been bolstered even further by vital new routes to Shanghai with China Eastern and Rio with Norwegian. Worldwide connections from Britain will be needed more than ever in the New Year and beyond, and in our recently-published draft master plan, we set out our vision for how Gatwick can grow to facilitate this demand for greater global connectivity.