London Gatwick Airport is set to offer flights to 90% of the destinations it offered before the pandemic, during this year’s Easter school holiday. The airport, which is part of VINCI Airports’ network, will fly to 177 destinations this Easter compared to 197 destinations in the same period in 2019. The flight volumes will also recover to 86% of pre-pandemic levels.
The most popular destinations for Easter getaways include Barcelona, Dublin and Malaga, while Dubai, New York and Orlando top the long-haul charts. The airport expects Thursday, April 6, to be the busiest day for departures, while Easter Monday is predicted to be the busiest day overall.
Over the past two weeks, Gatwick has welcomed several new routes, including Air India flights to Goa, Kochi, Amritsar and Ahmedabad, Air China operations to Beijing, British Airways services to Las Vegas, Aruba and Georgetown, and Wizz Air flights to Istanbul and Nice. Delta Air Lines is also set to start operating flights from London Gatwick to New York next week, while Lufthansa will begin daily flights to Frankfurt later this month.
Jonathan Pollard, Chief Commercial Officer of London Gatwick Airport, expressed his delight at the strong recovery in passenger demand and the airport’s success in welcoming new airlines and destinations. He said the recovery is continuing strongly, and the airport is looking forward to welcoming passengers over the Easter period and beyond.