Gatwick facts & figures

Gatwick facts & figures

Gatwick Airport opened in 1958 with just over 186,000 passengers passing through in our first year of operation. Today, it's a different story. We're open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and we now serve over 32 million passengers every year.

Overview

Gatwick is one of the top ten international airports in the world and the second largest in the UK. Around 90 carriers operate from the airport including British Airways, easyJet, Emirates, Monarch, Thomas Cook, Thomson and Virgin. It is the best connected point-to-point airport in Europe welcoming over 32 million passengers a year flying to more than 200 destinations. Gatwick Airport is owned by a group of international investment funds, of which Global Infrastructure Partners is the largest shareholder.

Take a look at some more detailed passenger statistics:

Passenger and flight statistics

Updated January 2011:

  • Scheduled flights 37%
  • Charter flights 12%
  • Low-cost flights 51%
  • Domestic 11%
  • International - shorthaul 73%
  • International - longhaul 16%
  • Leisure 86%
  • Business 14%
  • Origin and destination 92%
  • Transfer 8%

Airlines and aircraft movements

  • Around 90 airlines use Gatwick serving 13 domestic and 200 overseas destinations.
  • There are 108 stands in total - 32 pier served stands in each terminal and 44 remote stands serviced by coaches.
  • Across the two terminals there are 317 check-in desks - 191 in South Terminal and 126 in North Terminal.
  • Our busiest day was 22 August 2008 when there were 895 aircraft movements.

Facilities

  • Number of runways: 1
  • Runway length: 3,316m long by 45m wide
  • Number of terminals: 2 - South (which opened in 1958) and North (which opened in 1988)
  • South Terminal is 120,000 square metres of which 14,768 square metres is retail facilities
  • North Terminal is 75,000 square metres of which 12,530 square metres is retail facilities
  • Fast rail links to London: Gatwick Express, 30 minutes to London - www.gatwickexpress.com

Employment and investment

  • Gatwick directly employs 23,000 staff of which 2,200 are London Gatwick Airport employees
  • It is estimated that an additional 5,000 people are employed off-site in roles directly related to the airport's operation
  • Indirectly Gatwick creates around a further 17,000 jobs
  • We are investing over £1 billion between 2008 and 2013

Top ten international destinations

  • Malaga
  • Dublin
  • Faro
  • Alicante
  • Orlando
  • Geneva
  • Sharm El Sheikh
  • Madrid
  • Dubai
  • Dalaman

Top three UK destinations

  • Edinburgh
  • Glasgow
  • Jersey
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