Press Release

December 2011 traffic performance summary

12 January 2012

2011 was a year of consistent passenger growth at Gatwick 

  • December marked 12 consecutive months of year on year growth in passenger traffic.
  • Excluding the impact of prior year snow disruption, passenger traffic increased by 4.3% in December.
  • Achieved record average load factors of 76.4%, up 2.9 percentage points on the prior year.
 

Dec-11

Dec-10

Growth
(%)

Jan-11 -Dec-11

Jan-10 -Dec-11

Growth
(%)
Total terminal passengers (000s)

2,269.6

1,894.4

19.8

33,639.9

31,348.1

7.3
Market analysis:            
UK + Channel Islands

284.4

219.4

29.6

3,630.7

 3,394.3

7.0
Ireland

100.2

74.7

34.1

1,291.9

1,221.4

5.8
European scheduled

1,196.3

935.1

27.9

17,636.5

15,240.6

15.7
European charter

176.4

169.1

4.4

4,566.7

4,802.6

-4.9
North Atlantic

118.1

113.3

4.3

1,946.5

1,897.4

2.6

Other long haul

394.2

382.8

3.0

4,567.5

4,791.8

-4.7
Air transport movements

17,474

15,206

14.9

244,741

233,652

4.7
Cargo (metric tonnes)

7,570

7,367

2.8

88,214

104,143

-15.3

Note: Origins and destinations are classified according to ultimate origin or destination of aircraft in the case of multi-sector flights
Note: Figures for the market sectors have been rounded. Totals as per traffic summary.

Key Points:

  • Passenger numbers increased by 19.8% year on year, with 375,255 more passengers flying through Gatwick. Excluding the impact of the prior year snow disruption, estimated at 281,000 passengers, traffic increased by 4.3%.
  • Achieved a record average load factor of 76.4%, up 2.9 percentage points on the prior year, with strong performance recorded on short haul and domestic routes.
  • Underlying growth and strong load factor performance were particularly evident across the domestic and European routes of some major carriers.
  • Gatwick commenced operation of new routes with Vietnam Airlines’ first direct flight between the UK and Vietnam from 9 December, and with Turkish Airlines operating a daily flight to Istanbul from 20 December. 
  • Korean Air last week announced a three times a week direct service from Gatwick to Seoul commencing on 29 April this year. Hong Kong Airlines will be operating a daily business class service to Hong Kong from 8 March and Air China will begin a four times a week operation between Gatwick and Beijing from May.
  • Regrettably, AirAsia X is withdrawing its services to Europe (London, Paris) and India (Mumbai, Delhi) from its Kuala Lumpur hub. Their decision is based on the continued high fuel prices in 2011, weakening economic conditions in Europe and the impact of Air Passenger Duty (APD), alongside the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) carbon tax in the UK which will result in the withdrawal of operations at Gatwick on 31 March 2012.

For media relations information please contact:
Gatwick Airport press office
Tel: +44 (0)1293 505000
Email: gatwickmedia@gatwickairport.com

For investor relations information please contact:
Ben Nolan
Tel: +44 (0)1293 502589
Email: ben.nolan@gatwickairport.com 

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