Gatwick numbers dip on 2012, but only because of leap year

Passenger numbers at a leading holiday airport dipped very slightly last month, though only because February had 29 days in 2012.

The Leap Year day meant Gatwick airport’s numbers last month, at nearly 2,139,00, were down 0.7% on the February 2012 total.

Excluding the extra day, numbers at the West Sussex airport were 2.2% up on February 2012, with planes flying 80.7% full on average – a February record.

In the 12 months ending February 2013, Gatwick handled more than 34,178,00 passengers – a 1.3% rise on the 12 months ending February 2012.

North Atlantic flight passenger numbers fell 9.2% last month but other long-haul traffic rose 1.9% and UK and Channel Island numbers increased 2.4%.

But Ireland traffic declined 5.8% and European charter (down 3.4%) and European scheduled (down 0.7%) also fell.

Gatwick is now looking forward to the resumption of flights from Gatwick by Iraqi Airways to Baghdad and the Iranian city of Sulaymaniyah this month.

Also, Garuda Indonesia will later this year launch direct flights to Jakarta from Gatwick.