Gatwick enjoys 5.5% passenger surge

A leading holiday airport handled an increased number of passengers last month.

A total of more than 3.8 million passengers passed through Gatwick in July 2013 - a 5.5% rise on the figure for the West Sussex airport in July last year.

Although North Atlantic flight passenger numbers dipped 10.7% last month, there was an increase of 9.1% in European scheduled traffic which forms a large part of Gatwick's overall flying programme.

UK and Channel Islands traffic was up 2.0% last month, although Ireland traffic fell 3.5%. European charter traffic rose 0.1%, while long-haul other than North Atlantic was up 9.3%.

Gatwick planes were 88.1% full in July 2013 - a record high for the month.

PA