Press Release
BAA Gatwick reports on a busy December and overall solid results in 2005
11 January 2006
BAA Gatwick reports on a busy December and overall solid results in 2005
11 January 2006
Gatwick has reported continued growth in passenger numbers, welcoming over 2.1 million passengers in December 2005, up 2.5% compared to the same month last year.
Growing markets for December included Eastern Europe, Ireland, Gulf region and Africa. Long haul routes including North Atlantic routes continued to be popular with over 700,000 passengers travelling through Gatwick.
In 2005, Gatwick welcomed 32.7 million passengers, 4.2% more passengers than in 2004.
Paul Griffiths, Managing Director, BAA Gatwick commented; “December passenger figures reflected the overall solid performance Gatwick achieved in 2005, both in the number of travellers and the expanding route network of world-wide destinations. We also made significant improvements in developing customer service initiatives such as common use self service check-in and day before check-in services. 2006 will be another challenging year for the airport, balancing our environmental and community responsibilities with the benefits that a busy international airport brings to region. The focus will continue to be on delivering excellent customer service, putting the traveller at the heart of our operation and investing in facilities and services that meet the needs of our customers.”
During 2005 Gatwick welcomed new airline partners including; Virgin Nigeria, BMI Baby, Centralwings, Ethiopian, Ghana International and Jet 2. New destinations added to Gatwick’s route network were; Perth, Sydney, Nassau, Lagos, Addis Ababa, Accra, Cork, Knock, Shannon, Berlin, Hamburg, Grenoble, Teeside and Palanga.
Notable achievements in 2005 included scooping the prestigious Travel Weekly Globe Award for “Best Airport” and Institution of Structural Engineers, Structural Achievement Award 2005 for Pier 6.
Showcasing Gatwick’s investment programme, Pier 6 led the way in May, with the opening of the world’s largest air-passenger bridge, followed by the opening of South Terminal arrivals extension, which resulted in the baggage reclaim hall doubling in size and increasing belt capacity by 40%.
Also in the year, Continental Airlines celebrated its 20th Anniversary of flights from Gatwick and Emirates opened a business lounge, the biggest lounge outside of their home airport of Dubai. Along with leading economic partners in the region, Gatwick Airport opened its first ever dedicated Learning and Development Centre and launched its own dedicated website – gatwickairport.com
