Gatwick adds 400 security staff to cope with increased demand

Gatwick has also urged passengers to prepare ahead of time by placing all liquids, creams, gels, balms and pastes in one resealable, transparent bag – separate to hand luggage – when going through security.
 
The London airport has also revealed the top five items most frequently left in hand luggage before security screening are toothpaste, Vaseline, cigarette lighters, inhalers and hand sanitiser.
 
In recent weeks, around 10,000 hand luggage items going through the scanner have been rejected and need to be searched every day – which adds an average of five minutes to the time taken to pass through security.
   
Gatwick has recently re-established its short-haul network to destinations across Europe and grown its long-haul network, which now serves 40 routes. 

The school summer holidays will see several million passengers travelling through the airport, with top short-haul destinations including Barcelona, Malaga and Dublin, and top long-haul routes including Dubai, Toronto and Orlando.