Summer capacity restrictions at Gatwick Airport will not be continued beyond this month as it resumes normal operations. The announcement is in stark contrast to Heathrow, which confirmed the extension of its current daily cap on passenger numbers to the end of the summer schedule on October 29.
Heathrow has yet to decide whether to extend the cap through the winter. However, British Airways will axe an additional 10,000 flights from its schedule to and from Heathrow this winter.
The BA services will be cut between the end of October and late March when the summer 2023 schedule will commence.
Meanwhile, Gatwick has revealed strong passenger demand has accelerated its recovery from the devastating impacts of the pandemic. It has recruited more than 400 new security staff to reduce delays, and loaned baggage handling workers to support other operators on the airport, “as part of a continuous effort to return to high standard service levels”.
The airport reported “cautious optimism” with air traffic forecasts revised up for 2022. However, it cautioned that uncertainty remains over the macro-economic climate.
Gatwick’s recovery has also seen its long-haul network grow with 40 routes now announced, including new airlines such as Norse and Bamboo flying to New York and Hanoi respectively, British Airways is starting a new service to Cape Town and jetBlue adding a new daily route to Boston, in addition to its daily flight to New York. WestJet and Air Transat currently also fly to a range of destinations across Canada, while both British Airways and TUI fly numerous other long-haul services to the US, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Stewart Wingate, Gatwick Airport chief executive, said: “We still have some way to go, but strong demand has fast-tracked Gatwick’s recovery from the pandemic, particularly in the last quarter since all UK travel restrictions were removed. Air traffic volumes have reflected this strong passenger demand and have bounced back to around 75 per cent of pre-Covid levels.
“The unprecedented growth in traffic led to short term operational issues in June, however our decisive early action to limit the airport’s capacity in the crucial school holiday period of July and August has ensured passengers have experienced reliable flight timetables over the summer months. We are now very much operating business as usual and do not see any reason to extend the capacity declaration.”
“Despite some broad economic uncertainty, we are also looking forward to a successful second half to the year, with new, exciting airlines and routes coming online and continuous improvement in the high service standards.”
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