London Gatwick announced the busiest month in its history with more than 4.53 million passengers travelling through the airport in August.

The figure represents a 3.7 per cent increase on the previous year.

The airport has achieved 30 months of consecutive growth with 39.5 million passengers passing through the airport in the last twelve months, up six per cent year on year.

Travel to the North Atlantic was a key driver in this history-making month, seeing growth of 9.5 per cent on passengers flying to the US and Canada.

The increase in passenger numbers highlights the benefits of offering travellers choice across a number of airlines to different destinations.

The biggest long-haul increase saw Orlando up 13.3 per cent with passengers taking advantage of the offering from British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Norwegian Air, the only airline at Gatwick to serve all long-haul routes with the Dreamliner.

The short-haul sector also performed strongly with growth to European destinations 5.5 per cent, the equivalent to over 167,000 extra passengers compared to last year.