Gatwick Airport reveals its largest annual development investment
Gatwick Airport today announced its biggest-ever annual investment in development projects at the airport, with an investment of £250 million for the forthcoming financial year as part of the airport's £1.2 billion transformative capital investment plan to be spent over five years on transformationa and expansion projects.
The projects include:
Expansion of both North and South Terminal departure lounges and shopping facilities
A transformed railway station working in conjunction with Network Rail and more on-airport parking
Strengthened operational resilience with additional pier capacity and optimisation of the airfield
Gatwick also released results today that show Gatwick continues to further increase its lead as the World’s busiest single-runway airport, with passenger numbers +6.3% on last year.
Long-haul routes grew 21%, versus the same six months last year, with North Atlantic routes +40% on the previous year, as WestJet’s new routes to Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, St John’s started. Meanwhile, Norwegian started a new route Oakland San Francisco which contributed to a more than doubling of their passengers from Gatwick.
Gatwick’s role within the UK economy was demonstrated by growth on domestic routes of +7%, as passengers took advantage of the regional services available from the London airport's connections to the rest of the UK.
Already the second half of this financial year has seen new connections to business destinations including Hong Kong and Moscow start. While some of the routes already announced for upcoming months include Thomas Cook’s route to Cape Town and Tianjin Airlines’ service to Xian, China, the UK’s only direct route to the home of the Terracotta Army.
Stewart Wingate, CEO of Gatwick Airport, said: “Gatwick represents the changing face of aviation – demonstrated by today’s results. We continue to grow strongly breaking records as passengers respond to the variety on offer at the airport, low-cost, charter airlines and full services airlines. All now flying more passengers on more flights to more global destinations than ever.
“Our long-haul routes have grown 21% with the very latest of these British Airways’ new route to Cape Town starting today. Meanwhile, next summer Gatwick will start the UK’s only direct route to Xi’an China – home of the Terracotta Army.
“This year destinations in China, Peru, Canada, Costa Rica, Nigeria, as well as the US have been added to the airport’s line-up of long-haul routes whilst The Airport Council International have recognised that Gatwick is one of the fastest growing airports in Europe.
“Today’s announcement demonstrates Gatwick’s ongoing commitment to our development and growth, maintaining our vital role within the UK economy as we continue to offer the UK Government a credible and deliverable option for runway expansion.”