Strong 2025 performance as investment, innovation and operational excellence positions London Gatwick for future growth
- A growing network of 227 global destinations and eight new airline partnerships secured including Jet2
- Record-breaking runway efficiency combined with innovative technology will deliver increase in maximum aircraft movements per hour for 2026
- Northern Runway Project green-lit by government unlocking potential for much needed additional capacity, and muti-million-pound boost to local and national economy
Pierre-Hugues Schmit, London Gatwick Chief Executive, said: “London Gatwick delivered a strong performance in 2025, continuing to invest and innovate while driving productivity and efficiency across the business. These achievements are underpinned by our commitment to sustainability, and I want to thank all my colleagues for their dedication and hard work across the year.
“Our focus on excellent passenger service is unwavering. During the year we opened our newly refurbished assisted travel lounge and also completed an upgrade to the departure lounge in our South Terminal, alongside welcoming a variety of new retail partners.
“Looking ahead, the development plans for the Northern Runway detail how we intend to unlock further growth for the airport, our local communities and the national economy. I am very excited for 2026 which is set to be a transformative year as we remain focused on making London Gatwick the airport for everyone, whatever your journey.”
London Gatwick delivered a strong financial performance in 2025 underpinned by excellent passenger service, optimised operational performance and expansion of its long-haul offer.
London Gatwick also received planning consent from the Government for its transformative Northern Runway Project, as well as welcoming a new Chief Executive, Pierre-Hugues Schmit, who succeeded Stewart Wingate in September 2025.
The business’ Annual Financial Statements for 2025 published today (11 March 2026) show:
- Revenue at £1,132.1m (+0.2%), driven by diversifying airline mix and greater passenger choice
- Profit for the year was £334.7m (-2.4%), with EBITDA at £671.6m (-1.2%)
- Passenger numbers at 42.8m (down 1.1%), with strong long-haul growth of 3.3%, while short-haul numbers were impacted by temporary issues related to aircraft availability (-1.9%)
- Particularly strong year-on-year growth in markets to Sub-Saharan Africa (22%), the Far East and South Asia (24%), and Middle East and Central Asia (17%)
Record-breaking efficiency and innovation
London Gatwick’s world-leading runway efficiency and optimisation means it will see an increase from 55 (2025) to 57 maximum scheduled aircraft movements per hour in 2026, following air traffic control and airfield innovations.
These investments – and excellent collaboration with airlines and National Air Traffic Services (NATS) – helped to deliver the best On Time Departures performance for a decade (excluding the pandemic) with an 11-percentage point increase on 2024.
London Gatwick also became the world’s first single-runway airport to introduce time-based separation allowing an increase in the number of arrivals and departures per hour.
Investment driving future growth
In its recently published 2025 Capital Investment Programme London Gatwick details its ambitious and comprehensive £1.9bn pre-Northern Runway investment plans including major projects to expand both departure lounges, add new taxiways and decarbonise airport operations while maintaining focus on passenger service, operational excellence and sustainable growth.
In line with this Programme, during 2025, the airport:
- Recorded the highest number of airlines to have operated from the airport in a calendar year (57) with 227 destinations offering a rich mix of long and short-haul routes
- Secured new airline partnerships including Jet2 which will fly six aircraft serving 29 destinations starting later this month (March 2026)
- Completed upgrades to departure lounges in both the North and South Terminals
- Delivered a new multi-million-pound ‘Next Generation’ security scanner instalment on budget and ahead of deadline
- Completed the groundwork for the ‘Pier 6’ extension which will provide eight new aircraft stands, ready for summer 2027
Northern Runway Project
In September 2025, Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander granted consent to bring London Gatwick’s existing Northern Runway into routine use alongside its Main Runway.
London Gatwick is accelerating detailed logistical planning and design work for its Northern Runway plans, as it prepares to move into the delivery phase.
The £2.2bn privately financed development is projected to create more than 14,000 additional jobs and generate £1bn per year in economic benefits for the region.
Committed to sustainability
In 2025 London Gatwick became the first airport to achieve globally recognised PAS 2080 certification for cutting carbon emissions across the entire asset lifecycle. This recognises work to reduce and manage construction related carbon - from planning and design to construction, operation and decommissioning.
The airport also issued a second €750m sustainability-linked bond demonstrating its strong commitment to reducing emissions, as well as making significant progress on decarbonisation of heat and expanding its fleet of electric vehicles which is projected to number 300 by 2030.
Further details of what the airport is doing to meet the 10 sustainability goals it has pledged to achieve before 2030 have also been published today in its 2025 Decade of Change Report.
With around 43m annual passengers, London Gatwick is the UK’s second largest and one of Europe’s top airports. It is a vital piece of national infrastructure that drives both the national and regional economies by generating £5.5bn GVA and supporting over 76,000 jobs (2023). More than 60 airlines fly from the airport to over 160 short-haul and more than 50 long-haul destinations. With a declared maximum capacity of 57 movements an hour, London Gatwick is the most efficient single runway airport in the world.
The airport is located 28 miles south of the UK capital and is extremely well-connected, with more than a quarter of England’s population (15m people) – including all of London – less than one hour away by road or rail.A six-year, £2bn sustainable growth programme includes an ambitious plan to be a net zero airport by 2030 and to increase capacity by bringing the airport’s existing Northern Runway into routine use, alongside its Main Runway. VINCI Airports owns a 50.01% stake in the airport, with Global Infrastructure Partners managing the remaining 49.99%.
VINCI Airports, as the leading private airport operator in the world, manages the development and operation of more than 70 airports located in 14 countries. VINCI Airports draws on its expertise as a comprehensive integrator to develop, finance, build and operate airports, leveraging its investment capability and know-how to optimise operational performance and modernise infrastructure while bringing about their environmental transition. In 2016, VINCI Airports became the first airport operator to commit to an international environmental strategy, setting itself the aim of reaching zero net emissions (scope 1 and 2) across the network by 2050 while supporting the territories’ local climate transition.
For more information:
Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a part of BlackRock, is a leading infrastructure investor that specialises in investing in, owning and operating some of the largest and most complex assets across the energy, transport, digital infrastructure and water and waste management sectors. With energy pragmatism central to our investment thesis, we are well positioned to support the global energy transition.
GIP’s scaled platform has over $170bn in assets under management. We believe that our focus on real infrastructure assets, combined with our deep proprietary origination network and comprehensive operational expertise, enables us to be responsible stewards of our clients’ capital and to create positive economic impact for communities. For more information, visit www.global-infra.com.
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London, UK, 12 November 2025
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