London Gatwick recovered strongly in 2022

London Gatwick Airport has today published its financial results for 2022. As the year saw the progressive lifting of travel restrictions and a return to more orderly slot regulations, the London Airport turned in a strong annual performance overall.

Despite a return to profitability, the airport says that it remains “cautiously optimistic about a full recovery”, given the current economic climate and inflationary pressures. 

2022 in summary

The key 2022 results include:

• Passenger demand at 70.4% of pre-pandemic levels, with 32.8 million passengers passing through the airport in the year ending 31 December 2022.
• Revenue at £776.6 million, driven by a strong and steady recovery in passenger numbers throughout 2022. This includes aeronautical income (£405m), retail income (£159m) and car parking income (£102m).
• Returned to a profit of £196.5 million in 2022, after over £830 million of losses from 2020 and 2021.
• EBITDA at £446.3 million.

The year in retrospect

Looking back at 2022, the gradual removal of travel restrictions, and the return of discipline to UK airport slot regulations put London Gatwick in a good position.

As widely reported, the rapid upturn in demand during Q2 2022 drove significant operational challenges across the aviation sector.

London Gatwick took early and decisive action, working closely with the airport’s partners including the airlines, to ensure passenger disruption was minimised during the peak summer months. 

Runway upgrades

During 2022, London Gatwick made a significant investment by completing an innovative project to resurface its main runway.

Further investment will also see a fully redeveloped airport train station completed later this year, with work beginning to upgrade the North Terminal international departure lounge. 

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Shorthaul network recovery

London Gatwick’s short haul network was the first to show strong recovery in 2022 and now serves 156 destinations, with easyJet flying 72% of those routes.

Short haul capacity is currently at 92% of flights flown pre-pandemic, while long-haul connectivity is taking relatively longer to recover.

Long haul operations have bounced back robustly in recent months, and now boasts 47 long haul routes – representing 76% of the number flown pre-pandemic.

Air India and Delta movements 

Notable amongst the airline operations – Air India will start flying to four new destinations later this month, on 26 March.

US carrier Delta Air Lines returns to London Gatwick with the airport’s fourth daily flight to New York for summer.

In addition to this, JetBlue, British Airways and Norse Atlantic Airways are also operating new long-haul routes to North America and the Caribbean.

London Gatwick statement

Stewart Wingate, Chief Executive Officer, London Gatwick Airport, reflected on the trajectory taken by the airport, saying: “The decisive actions we took early last year allowed us to offer good levels of service to passengers who travelled through Gatwick.”

“While we still have some way to go to reach a full recovery, we know long-term sustainable investment is critical to the future of our airport and provides a significant boost to the regional and national economy.”

“This year we are pushing forward with a number of projects to improve resilience and the overall passenger experience, including preparing our planning application to bring the existing Northern Runway into routine use.

About Gatwick Airport

Gatwick is the UK’s second largest airport and is a vital piece of national infrastructure that helps drive both the regional and national economy. 

More than 40 airlines fly from the airport to over 150 short-haul and more than 45 long-haul destinations.