London Gatwick has achieved its busiest-ever start to a year, as passenger numbers grew by four per cent in financial quarter four, compared to 2018, as 9.7 million passengers travelled through in the first three months of 2019.

Long-haul growth was also strong in quarter four, up 7.5 per cent.

This contributed to another month of healthy cargo growth, 7.2 per cent quarter on quarter.

North Atlantic routes drove this busiest-ever start to a calendar year, up 15.3 per cent on quarter four of 2018.

Responding to this transatlantic demand, Virgin Atlantic and Delta have announced plans to grow at Gatwick -  with new routes to Boston Logan and New York JFK from summer 2020 - adding to Gatwick’s over 250 flights each week to the USA.

Stewart Wingate, chief executive, Gatwick Airport said: “Gatwick’s year has started as we mean the rest of 2019 to go on.

“In the immediate period, we continue to innovate, enabling new and established airlines to grow to all parts of the world – including most recently a new service to Rio de Janeiro.

“Looking ahead to further opportunities, we will publish the final version of Gatwick’s masterplan later this year, outlining potential options for future growth.”