LGW Hits Record-Breaking Passenger Figures Years Early

As the south London airport celebrates its busiest month ever, its chief executive officer feels these figures contradict the recommendation by the Airports Commission to award runway expansion to Heathrow.

London’s Gatwick Airport (LGW) has reported the busiest month in its 80-year history as 4.6 million passengers passed through the facility in July. The figures, released in a statement in August, have prompted LGW’s chief executive officer Stewart Wingate to reiterate his belief that an additional runway for London should be constructed at Gatwick, rather than at London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR).

“Our continued success provides proof of the benefits a two-runway Gatwick would deliver for Britain. Expansion of Gatwick, London’s fastest growing long-haul gateway, would show London is open for business to the world,” he said.

Reporting 23 percent growth for the year-on-year period, the airport has seen 41.7 million travelers pass through its doors since last August. While short-haul European destinations have helped to bolster these figures, LGW has also seen competitive growth in the long-haul market, with North Atlantic routes proving to be particularly strong.

According to TravelMole, LGW’s record-breaking figures have also prompted Wingate to criticize the United Kingdom’s Airports Commission, the body responsible for investigating proposed runway expansion within the country.

The commission’s final report, which was published last July, stated that LGW wouldn’t see its current level of passenger figures until 2030. It also controversially recommended that a third runway be constructed at LHR.

Wingate reportedly told the website that, “Our performance proves beyond any doubt that the Airports Commission’s report is fundamentally flawed…we have just passed the 42 million passenger mark 14 years ahead of when the Airports Commission said we would.”

It has been reported that the UK’s government will not make a final decision on runway expansion until at least October.

[Photo: Vizts.com]