Gatwick has reopened its south terminal as the recovery from Covid-19 continues.

At the same time, the airport has gone from offering 300 flights a day on Saturday to more than 500 today.

Gatwick and its partners – including airlines, shops, cafes and bars - have spent months refurbishing, cleaning, updating and testing facilities and equipment that has not been in use since the terminal closed during the pandemic on June 15th, 2020.

Many airlines that had been flying from the north terminal for the last 21 months, have or are in the process of switching terminals.

This includes major airlines such as British Airways, Wizz Air, Vueling, Ryanair, Aer Lingus and Norwegian.

easyJet, which will fly 120 routes from Gatwick – the most ever from the airport – will operate from both terminals.

BA will operate 35 short haul routes to destinations across Europe, Wizz Air 25 European routes and Vueling a total of 16 routes, all from the reopened south terminal.

Stewart Wingate, chief executive at Gatwick Airport, said: “A lot of work has gone into preparing our south terminal, and I would like to thank everybody involved as their combined efforts mean that today we are effectively opening a medium-sized airport overnight, which is no small task.

“We’re now ready and excited to welcome passengers back in large numbers, and our restaurants, shops, cafes and bars are also looking forward to serving passengers again before they jet off on holiday, to visit friends and family or take that vital business trip.”

According to data from Cirium, April will see the 9,805 departures from Gatwick, the highest number since December 2019.

Departures from the airport have increased by 3,000 per cent when compared to the 322 planes leaving Gatwick in April 2021.