Destination
With a name dating back to the 13th Century, from a manor that was on the site of today’s airport, Gatwick has been, over the centuries, a racecourse, a Royal Air Force flying school and a repair and maintenance facility site for the army during World War II, before Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the airport in June 1958.
Today, with nearly 35 million passengers flying through its 2 terminals every year, London Gatwick is the UK’s second busiest airport after Heathrow and the world’s busiest single runway international airport.
The airport is owned and operated by the British Airport Authority (BAA) and is base for scheduled operators including British Airways (BA), Delta Airlines, Aer Lingus, US Airways, Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways, Easyjet and Virgin Atlantic. A number of charter airlines also operate from this key hub.
Located only 5 km (3.1 miles) north of central Crawley, Gatwick is half way between London (45 km/ 28 miles) and the South Coast destinations such as Brighton or the international harbours of Portsmouth and Southampton.
