Gatwick Airport has delivered more profits and more passengers in the six months to September 30 2013, according to financial results released by its American owners.
Passenger numbers over the six months rose to 20.8m, up by 4.4 per cent in comparison to the same period last year. Growth has come mainly from short haul European flights and business services from easyJet and Turkish Airlines.
Pre-tax profits in the six months to September 2013 were £127.3m, up from £107.2m in the same period last year. Turnover has increased by 10.7 per cent to £360.6m.
Stewart Wingate, CEO of London Gatwick, said Gatwick celebrates four years of new ownership in December and called for a new runway at the airport on the basis of the booming figures. Building a second runway would be cheaper than expanding at Heathrow, he noted.
“In this time we have turned around decades of under investment to enable Gatwick to emerge as a competitive, world-class airport,” said Wingate.
BAA relinquished ownership of Gatwick to Global Infrastructure Partners in December 2009.
“A new runway here would deliver the routes that passengers actually want at a better price, more quickly and with significantly less environmental impact. The UK’s next runway has got to be at Gatwick,” said Wingate.“Gatwick continues to attract new airlines and routes, which were once only the domain of Heathrow. We now serve routes as diverse – and strategically important for the UK – as Moscow, Beijing, Istanbul and key cities in Vietnam.
“Next year, we will continue to grow our long haul network with routes including Jakarta, New York and Los Angeles,” the CEO added.
The Business Visits & Events Partnership (BVEP), meanwhile, has rallied around the Let Britain Fly campaign launched last week in Westminster. The campaign aims to build cross-party political support for expanding UK airports.
Let Britain Fly’s founding statement has been signed by over 100 business leaders from Britain’s top companies, along with organisations including the Association of British Professional Conference Organisers (ABPCO), British Chambers of Commerce, British Hospitality Association, Excel London, Federation of Small Businesses, Institute of Directors, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry and London First.
“The capacity of our airports is one of a series of barriers to growth in the UK winning more events business, so we’re delighted to put our support behind this campaign,” said Simon Hughes (pictured), Vice-Chair of the BVEP.
“Alongside Air Passenger Duty, the limitations of our airports are reducing the competitiveness of the UK in being an attractive location in which to hold international events and one where they would choose to return as leisure travellers.”
The Let Britain Fly campaign aims to maintain pressure on politicians to take swift action to modernise UK airport infrastructure.
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