Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport, branded London Gatwick, is an international airport at Crawley in West Sussex, approximately 28 miles (45 km) south of central London. It uses the IATA code LGW and ICAO location indicator EGKK. With 42.8 million passengers in 2025, it was the United Kingdom's second-largest airport by passenger traffic and the largest airline operation at the airport was easyJet.[1][2][3]
Location and role
The airport lies within the borough of Crawley and West Sussex, near the county boundary with Surrey and between Crawley and Horley. Its catchment includes London, south-east England and the Brighton corridor. Gatwick is one of the principal airports serving the London aviation market but is physically outside Greater London.[4][5]
Gatwick combines short-haul leisure and business traffic with a substantial long-haul network. In the first half of 2026, more than 60 airlines served 231 destinations. The airport reported 19.1 million passengers during those six months; that interim figure should not be added to the complete 2025 annual total.[5]
Ownership, operation and regulation
Gatwick Airport Limited is the company licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority to operate the aerodrome. VINCI Airports owns 50.01 per cent, while Global Infrastructure Partners manages the remaining 49.99 per cent on behalf of other investors. VINCI became the majority shareholder in May 2019; GIP had led the ownership group since acquiring the airport in 2009.[6][5][4]
The CAA lists London Gatwick as a certificated aerodrome under ICAO location indicator EGKK. Air traffic services and aeronautical information are distinct from the airport company's commercial operation; current declared distances, procedures and temporary restrictions must be taken from the UK Aeronautical Information Publication and NOTAM system rather than inferred from terminal or corporate material.[3][7]
History
Gatwick began in 1930 as the Surrey Aero Club. It was licensed as a public aerodrome in 1934, gaining scheduled services to Belfast and Paris. Gatwick railway station and the circular Beehive terminal opened in the mid-1930s. During the Second World War the Air Ministry requisitioned the aerodrome, which served as a Royal Air Force night-fighter and army-co-operation base.[4]
The government selected Gatwick as London's second airport in 1950. Following a major reconstruction, Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the new airport on 9 June 1958. The rebuilt facility integrated a mainline railway station with the terminal, a defining feature of Gatwick's surface access.[4][1]
Runway extensions followed growth in jet operations. The runway reached 2,500 metres in 1964, 2,766 metres in 1970 and 3,098 metres in 1973; the present 3,316-metre physical length dates from the 1998 extension. The North Terminal opened in 1988, creating the two-terminal arrangement that remains in use.[4]
BAA was required by the Competition Commission to sell Gatwick, and a GIP-led consortium acquired it in 2009. During the COVID-19 travel restrictions, flights were consolidated into one terminal for the first time since 1988. The South Terminal reopened in March 2022 after an 18-month closure.[4]
Terminals
Gatwick has two passenger terminals:
North Terminal, used by easyJet and a mixture of European and long-haul airlines including Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines and JetBlue.
South Terminal, used by British Airways, Ryanair, Wizz Air, Vueling, Norwegian and other carriers. TUI uses both terminals according to flight-number prefix.
Terminal assignment is operational data and may change; passengers should use the airport's current airline-and-terminal list rather than a historic article revision. At the 2026 snapshot each terminal had 31 stands, supplemented by 57 remote stands served by coaches. Flexible stand use allowed up to 186 aircraft to be parked. The airport listed 245 conventional check-in desks, 123 self-service check-in desks and 119 self-service bag-drop kiosks.[8][1]
The terminals are linked by an automated inter-terminal shuttle. Gatwick Airport railway station is attached to the South Terminal; North Terminal passengers transfer by shuttle.
Runways and airfield
Gatwick has two parallel paved runways, but under the operating arrangement in force before completion of the Northern Runway Programme they are too close for simultaneous routine use. The northern runway functions as a standby when the main runway is unavailable.[1]
| Runway | Physical dimensions | Surface | Current role at August 2026 |
| 08R/26L | 3,316 m × 45 m | Grooved asphalt | Main runway |
| 08L/26R | 2,561 m × 45 m | Grooved asphalt | Northern/standby runway; routine dual-runway use under development |
Physical length is not the same as the take-off run available or landing distance available from each direction. Displaced thresholds, stopways and clearways produce different declared distances. NATS's February 2026 Type A charts, rather than the physical-length headline, are the controlling source for those directional values.[7][9]
The airport declared a maximum scheduling capacity of 57 movements per hour for 2026. That is an operational planning measure, not a promise that every hour will contain 57 movements.[5]
Airlines and operations
Gatwick recorded 259,000 aircraft movements and 42.8 million passengers in 2025. The airport supplied 50.7 million seats, producing an average load factor of 84.5 per cent. Long-haul passengers made up 16 per cent of the total.[1][2]
easyJet was the largest airline, carrying 18.9 million Gatwick passengers in 2025. British Airways maintains a substantial operation, while the airport also supports bases or major schedules from Wizz Air, TUI, Norwegian, Vueling and other short-haul operators. The long-haul mix includes network and leisure services to North America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Airline presence and route frequency are mutable and are not treated as permanent hub relationships without an airline-specific approved entity record.[1][8]
Ground transport
Gatwick Airport station sits on the Brighton Main Line. Direct trains connect the airport with central London, Brighton and a wide cross-section of south-east England. The airport states that more than 120 stations are reachable directly and more than 700 with one change; typical central London journeys take about 30 minutes, with trains every three to four minutes at busy times.[1]
A rebuilt station opened in 2023 with a second concourse and airport entrance, wider platforms, eight new escalators, five new lifts and improved step-free facilities. The work also remodelled track in the Gatwick area to improve reliability on the Brighton Main Line.[10]
Local and regional coaches and buses serve both terminals. Frequent Metrobus routes connect Crawley, Horley, Redhill, Reigate, Horsham and surrounding districts, while longer-distance coaches connect Gatwick with London and other airports. The airport is reached by road from the M23 and A23 corridor.[11]
Northern Runway Programme
The Secretary of State for Transport granted development consent for routine dual-runway operations in September 2025. The consent covers use and extension of the existing northern runway, taxiway changes, terminal extensions, highways, watercourses and associated mitigation. The consented scheme is designed to accommodate up to 80 million passengers per year; this is a planning capacity, not a current traffic total.[12]
In August 2026 the Court of Appeal dismissed the remaining legal challenge, allowing the project to move from planning into detailed design and delivery. The government and airport expect first operations from the extended northern runway from 2030 and estimate that the completed scheme could accommodate about 100,000 additional annual flights. Those are project forecasts rather than completed infrastructure or current movements.[13][5]
Traffic statistics
| Year or period | Passengers | Aircraft movements | Notes |
| 2024 | 43.2 million | 261,000 | Full calendar year |
| 2025 | 42.8 million | 259,000 | Full calendar year; easyJet largest airline |
| First half 2026 | 19.1 million | — | Interim period; not comparable with a full year |
The CAA collects movement and passenger records from UK reporting airports and validates the annual dataset. Gatwick's own key-facts figures are consistent with the CAA's 2025 reporting, while the first-half 2026 number comes from the airport's interim results.[2][1][5]
Related pages
Sources
London Gatwick key information — Gatwick Airport Limited
London Gatwick history — Gatwick Airport Limited
London Gatwick owners and management — Gatwick Airport Limited
London Gatwick first-half 2026 results — Gatwick Airport Limited, 26 August 2026
Annual airport data 2025 — UK Civil Aviation Authority
UK certificated aerodromes — UK Civil Aviation Authority
London Gatwick runway 08R/26L Type A chart — NATS Aeronautical Information Service, effective 12 February 2026
London Gatwick runway 08L/26R Type A chart — NATS Aeronautical Information Service, effective 12 February 2026
Gatwick airlines and terminals — Gatwick Airport Limited, accessed 29 August 2026
Gatwick Airport station upgrade — Network Rail
Travel by coach and bus — Gatwick Airport Limited, accessed 29 August 2026
Gatwick Northern Runway development consent decision — Planning Inspectorate, 22 September 2025
Gatwick expansion legal challenge decision — Department for Transport, 4 August 2026
Image source and licence: Gatwick Airport aerial view — Chris Sampson, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
