London Gatwick Airport to increase per hour scheduled aircraft movements in 2026
London Gatwick Airport announced (11-Mar-2026) plans to increase per hour scheduled aircraft movements from 55 in 2025 to 57 in 2026, following air traffic control and airfield innovations. The investments were undertaken in partnership with serving airlines and UK NATS and resulted in the airport's best on-time performance for departures in a decade - excluding the pandemic - in 2025, with an 11% year-on-year increase. As previously reported by CAPA, the airport also became the first single-runway airport globally to introduce time-based separation processes in 2025, facilitating an increase in the number of arrivals and departures per hour. [more - original PR]
Background ✨
London Gatwick handled 43.2 million passengers in 2024 and reported revenue of GBP1.1 billion, with CEO Stewart Wingate citing the UK government being minded to approve its privately financed Northern Runway plans1. In 1H2025 it handled 20 million passengers and said it had 58 serving airlines, including more than 50 weekly long haul frequencies to the Middle East2. The airport previously capped daily movements to mitigate staffing-related disruption, extending the limit to 15-Oct-20233.