BA announces 40% rise in Gatwick passenger numbers
British Airways has seen a 40% increase in the number of passengers carried from Gatwick over the past five years following a 33% increase in the number of routes it offers.
The airline said it is now carrying 6.2 million passengers a year from Gatwick to 68 destinations, compared with 4.4 million to 52 destinations in 2012.
Sean Doyle, BA director of networks, alliances and Gatwick, said: "We’ve really focused on growing our Gatwick operation in the last five years, investing in new routes, driving punctuality and, thanks to our move to the South Terminal, delivered an improved airport experience.
"We’ve seen huge demand for flights to North America driven by new destinations such as Oakland in San Francisco Bay and Fort Lauderdale and we’ve started 19 new short-haul services in the last five years to destinations such as Lanzarote, Malta, Rhodes and Limoges."
He said that, last year, BA was the most punctual of the three biggest airlines flying from Gatwick to Europe, having outperformed easyJet by 15 percentage points and Ryanair by six percentage points.
"We’re continuing to invest in our operational resilience to grow that difference even more," added Doyle.
In the last five years, BA has introduced four more Boeing 777s, increased the number of A319s from two to 11 and introduced 15 A320s, which replaced 19 Boeing 737s, increasing its capacity by more than 10%.
"We are refreshing our Boeing 777 fleet with new furnishings, improved IFE and in-seat power, and moving to a ten-abreast configuration in economy from March 2018," added Doyle.
"This will enable us to offer even more of our lowest fares, align our World Traveller cabin to other airlines such as Air New Zealand and Emirates and increase the size of our World Traveller Plus cabin by 28 seats to give more people the option to travel in our popular premium economy cabin.
"We plan to carry on growing from Gatwick and will continue to explore and quickly react to any new opportunities, be they destinations or services that we think our customers will love."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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