Gatwick Airport welcomed 3.8 million passengers in April, up 15 per cent on 2016, and marking 50 months of consecutive growth.

The airport benefitted from the whole of the Easter school holiday falling in April, with an additional 496,200 passengers passing through the airport.

Long-haul routes continue their booming growth at Gatwick, up 23 per cent on April 2016 and driving a 27.2 per cent cargo increase.

North Atlantic routes performed particularly well, up 35.2 per cent, with New York up 70 per cent, Los Angeles up 56 per cent and Fort Lauderdale up 53 per cent. 

Gatwick Airport chief executive Stewart Wingate said: “Gatwick’s vital role for Britain shines through our latest traffic figures as the airport continues to go from strength to strength as we gear up for our biggest Summer yet.

“Confidence in Gatwick is unrelenting as our existing carriers increase frequencies, Cathay Pacific will be providing a daily connection Gatwick to Hong Kong from June, and new routes are announced.

“We continue our trailblazing low-cost long-haul revolution, bringing more parts of the Globe within reach of more Britons, with the world’s furthest low-cost long-haul connection just announced between Gatwick and Singapore, from Norwegian.”