Gatwick talks up long-haul successes

A total of 11 new services from the airport this summer include those from two new airlines, Canada’s Westjet and China’s Tianjin Airlines. As well as Westjet’s Winnipeg and Edmonton services and Tianjin Airlines’ flight to Chongqing, British Airways has introduced San Jose, Costa Rica and Lima, while Norwegian has added Boston plus Oakland near San Francisco. Thomas Cook has added two destinations in Cuba and Tui now flies to Liberia in Costa Rica.

Additionally this winter, Gatwick will also get a new Cape Town service from BA and Cathay Pacific will start flying to Hong Kong on September 2.

Chief commercial officer Guy Stephenson said: “The demand for new direct connections is evident with six million passengers travelling to a long-haul destination from Gatwick last year.”

However, despite the successes in the last 12 months, Gatwick has also had some notable route losses in the past few years, with Korean Air, Air China and Vietnam Airlines among those closing routes or moving to Heathrow.