Gatwick Airport Expects 3,000% More Trips in April

Gatwick Airport will experience the largest number of departures since December 2019 throughout the course of the next month when the South Terminal reopens after a lengthy closure. Over the course of April, Gatwick will handle over 10,000 departures, a 3,000 percent increase over the same month in the previous year.

Gatwick Airport has had a very busy month.
The airport is expected to have its busiest month since the pre-pandemic period, according to statistics from Cirium International. Over the course of April, the airport will witness 9,805 departures, the highest amount since December 2019.

With the re-opening of Gatwick Airport’s South Terminal, which accounts for more than half of the airport’s total capacity, the airport will be able to return to regular operations in a substantial manner. Since the start of the pandemic, Gatwick Airport, which was formerly among the top ten busiest airports in Europe, has been one of the worst-affected locations in the world.

In comparison to April 2021, when the airport handled just 322 departures for the whole month, Gatwick Airport will handle 30 times the number of departures this coming April. In fact, with 288 planned departures on March 27th alone, Gatwick will nearly hit its full April 2021 total on that day alone.

Reopening of the South Terminal

Following the outbreak of the worldwide COVID epidemic, Gatwick Airport reacted to a precipitous reduction in passenger traffic by announcing the closure of its South Terminal in June 2020, effective immediately. Since then, the terminal has been out of commission. The airport stated in February that the South Terminal will reopen on March 27th, with the date set for that day.

Gatwick will offer more than 30 long-haul destinations throughout the summer months, including Bangkok, Quebec, Montreal, and Islamabad, after its re-opening. Several airlines, notably Qatar Airways, have returned to the airport, while others, such as Scoot and Norse Atlantic, have established new bases there.

Gatwick Airport’s Vice President of Aviation Development, Stephanie Wear, said,

“Our customers, who include tourists and businesspeople from all across the South-East, will be delighted with the addition of destinations such as Bangkok, Quebec, Montreal, and Islamabad to our wonderful portfolio of long-haul flights from Gatwick. As we work to recover from the effects of the epidemic, we expect to be able to expand our long-haul network of destinations and continue to link people and places all over the globe, including Africa.”

easyJet is expected to be the busiest airline.
EasyJet, a low-cost airline, will be the most popular operator at Gatwick in April, with 5,724 flights, accounting for around six out of every ten departures. In all, the airline will operate 120 trips out of Gatwick and will have 79 aircraft on hand at the airport.

Last week, the airline announced four new flights out of Gatwick, including one to Limoges and Rennes in France, which will begin service this summer.

Ali Gayward, easyJet’s national manager for the United Kingdom, said,

The airline said it is pleased to announce further new flights from the United Kingdom for next summer, which will allow passengers to choose from an even greater selection of excellent beach and city locations to visit.

easyJet outperforms both second-placed Vueling, which operates 678 flights out of its new Gatwick facility, and third-placed British Airways, which operates 671 flights out of its new Gatwick site.