Gatwick Airport - Today

Whilst Gatwick still caters extensively for the leisure traveller, the growing emphasis over the last few years has been on the provision of short and long-haul services suited to the sophisticated needs of the executive traveller. With London Heathrow Airport rapidly reaching current capacity, the business community is increasingly turning to Gatwick to discover a route network that spans the globe.

The airport's reach now extends to nearly 300 destinations, with scheduled airlines covering almost half of these, including 19 key centres in North America to which one can fly direct, and a range in Europe, Africa and the Caribbean.

The growth rate of long haul services is rapid, and there is an equally vigorous growth in short to medium haul business traffic. Already Gatwick provides services to more cities than Heathrow, and this trend must eventually lead either to Gatwick reaching its traffic capacity or the building of a new runway.

The sustained growth which underpins Gatwick's plans to take it into the 21st century is demonstrated by some impressive statistics. As Gatwick's routes and reputation have grown, major investment has ensured that improvements on the ground keep pace with developments in the air.

Since the 1980's check-in facilities have been expanded at London Victoria station, the state-of-the-art North Terminal has been completed, 'Fast Track' – the service for First and Business class passengers – has been launched, a range of airport lounges has been opened and more than £100 million has been spent on improving passenger comfort. This investment programme is a continuing process, designed to meet the growing needs of the 22 million plus passengers using Gatwick every year.

Although the concourse areas are large, they are at times difficult to traverse as large numbers of passengers in the holiday mood wait to check in their bags. On an average day you should allow a minimum of 10 minutes to transfer from the centre of one Terminal to the centre of the other, but at busy times you should double that figure.

Gatwick offers domestic flights to most of the major cities on the UK mainland and Ireland. Such an extensive network, backed by frequent and conveniently timed flights, allows passengers, particularly those travelling on business, to interline at Gatwick on short and long-haul airlines flying on to virtually every city of note around the world.

Sixty years after the opening of the most advanced airport building for passengers in its day, Gatwick airport today is adapting to meet the challenges of air travel in the 21st Century, whilst striving to regain its reputation as the most user-friendly airport in the world.