Gatwick at a glance

Gatwick is the busiest single-runway airport in the world, the second largest airport in the UK and the tenth busiest international airport in the world. Its development strategy for the future focuses on the airport's expansion as a single-runway, two-terminal airport, as it grows to handle around 40 million passengers a year by 2010/2011.

The airport is owned by BAA, the world's leading airport company, who also owns  - Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

Operating hours: 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

Opened: 1958

Runways: One, 3,316m long by 45m wide

Terminals: Two

Airlines:  79

Destinations: 227

Air transport movements per year: 258,000

Passengers per year: 35 million 

Passenger profile: A: 7.9%, B: 28.9%, C1: 41.3%, C2: 16.5%, D: 4.4%, E: 1.0%.

Total retail space: 28,000m²

Rail link: Gatwick Express, 30 minutes to London; www.gatwickexpress.com. (This link will launch in a new window.)

Employs: More than 25,000 (of which around 2,400 are BAA Gatwick employees)

Air cargo per year: over 171,000 tonnes

Status:  Busiest single-runway airport in the world