Gatwick kicks off 2018 with record-breaking January
London Gatwick last month experienced the busiest January in its history, with 2.8 million passengers travelling through an increase of 1.4% year-on-year, marking the airports 59th consecutive month of growth.
As thousands of Brits travelled Stateside for a January escape, US routes saw the biggest percentage increase in passenger numbers. Fort Lauderdale was the North American destination with the highest passenger growth rate, up 92.6% on January 2017.
New York and Boston also saw significant year-on-year growth – up 51.1% and 31.4% respectively – while the US West Coast proved popular too, with Oakland, San Francisco +76.6% and Los Angeles +38.6%.
It was not just Gatwick’s thriving American routes that pushed its long-haul growth figure to 16.8% in January; the airport’s Asia routes soared too, with Hong Kong +42.4% year-on-year.
Elsewhere, Gatwick’s growing global connectivity is having a positive effect on the volume of cargo handled by the airport. Tonnage rose by 29.6% in January as a direct result of Gatwick’s booming long-haul network, which currently comprises over 60 worldwide connections, with a new route to Buenos Aires launching next week.
Closer to home, Gatwick’s regional connectivity also continued to perform well last month, with Newquay +21.3%, Guernsey +13% and Glasgow +9% – the three domestic routes with the highest percentage growth.
Gatwick Airport, Chief Executive Officer, Stewart Wingate said: “We’ve started 2018 as we mean to go on at Gatwick, with record January passenger numbers and considerable year-on-year growth across our long-haul route network.
“January’s traffic shows that US destinations are increasingly popular and next month we’ll be providing even more options for passengers travelling Stateside with the launch of new routes to Austin and Chicago. These new connections will be joined this summer by British Airways’ biggest summer schedule at the airport in almost ten years – a 15% increase in weekly flights compared to last year.
“As we approach five consecutive years of growth, Gatwick continues to play an increased role for Britain on the global stage and we stand ready to build our financeable and deliverable second runway scheme for the country.”