London Gatwick Airport pax stable in Dec-2012, handles 34.2 million pax in 2012

UK's London Gatwick Airport passenger numbers stable - traffic highlights:

• Dec-2012:
  
  • Passenger numbers: 2.3 million, +0.2% year-on-year;
    
    • UK and Channel Islands: 294,700, +1.3%;
    • Ireland: 100,600, +0.4%;
    • European scheduled: 1.2 million, -1.5%;
    • European charter: 180,800, +1.7%;
    • North Atlantic: 110,000, -7.0%;
    • Other long-haul: 413,800, +6.2%;
• 2012:
  
  • Passenger numbers: 34.2 million, +1.7%;
    
    • UK and Channel Islands: 3.8 million, +2.6%;
    • Ireland: 1.3 million, -0.6%;
    • European scheduled: 18.5 million, +5.0%;
    • European charter: 4.1 million, -10.8%;
    • North Atlantic: 1.8 million, -5.2%;
    • Other long-haul: 4.7 million, +4.2%. [more - original PR]

London Gatwick Airport reported (10-Jan-2013) the top three Christmas destinations were Geneva, Edinburgh and Dubai. Around 1.5 million passengers travelled through the airport between 17-Dec-2012 and 02-Jan-2013. Airport corporate affairs director James Colman said "long-haul carriers contributed significantly to our December increase - with Dubai being one of the top three choices for passengers travelling over Christmas - and routes to key markets such as China and Vietnam continuing to perform well."