Although it cites ‘business as usual,’ London Gatwick is warning the economic crisis will dampen passenger demand for autumn and winter.
The headwinds coming could impact holiday flight demand well into 2023.
Airlines haven’t showed us that is happening yet, but we are still in the peak season and we are being cautious about what we might see in the winter or next year.
Gatwick expects to handle a total of 32.8m passengers in 2022.
In contrast to Heathrow, Gatwick won’t extend the cap on flight numbers introduced this summer.
“We are now very much operating business as usual and do not see any reason to extend the capacity declaration,” said Gatwick’s CEO Stewart Wingate.
Gatwick capped the maximum number of daily flights to 850 in August.
The airport says it has hired 400 more security staff and redeployed staff to bolster the baggage handling workforce.
Passenger traffic at Gatwick reached 81% of pre-pandemic levels in July.
