Train to plane: Gen Z leads the way in sustainable travel to London Gatwick
- More than half of 16 to 24-year-olds travelled to London Gatwick by train in Q1 2025
- London Gatwick is the best-connected UK airport by rail, with direct services to more than 120 stations
- London Gatwick has invested nearly £45m in improved train connectivity in the last two
years
London Gatwick has seen a significant rise in rail travel among younger passengers, with more than half of the airport’s Gen Z passengers catching a train to their plane.
New data reveals that 53% of 16 to 24-year-olds chose to reach London Gatwick by rail in the first three months of 2025 - up from 47% in 2024. This compares to 44% of all passengers in 2025, underscoring Gen Z’s growing commitment to sustainable and efficient transport.
The figures also show that Gen Z passengers – the demographic born between 1997 and 2012 - were more likely to travel more than two hours to reach London Gatwick, with 17% doing so in 2024 compared to 14% of all passengers.
London Gatwick is the best-connected UK airport by rail, with direct services to more than 120 stations and hundreds more within just one change. Up to 19 trains per hour leave Gatwick’s dedicated on-site station to London – an average of every four minutes, as frequent as the London Underground.
As well as services connecting to central London in just 30 minutes, passengers can also directly reach places including Brighton, Cambridge and Reading.
Nick Williams, Head of Passenger Operations, London Gatwick said: “It’s inspiring to see younger passengers embracing rail travel in such strong numbers. Gen Z is leading the shift toward more sustainable airport access and we’re proud to support that with excellent rail connectivity and frequent services to meet their needs.”
Jenny Saunders, Customer Services Director, Govia Thameslink Railway said: "Our Gatwick Express, Southern and Thameslink trains are a swift and sustainable way to reach London Gatwick, so it's refreshing to see so many younger people choosing us.
"Many will also be attracted by the multi-million-pound redeveloped station, opened at Gatwick less than two years ago. This has wider platforms, a brand-new concourse, new lifts and escalators to make it bigger, better and more accessible than ever before."
London Gatwick is continuing to invest in improving passenger experience and accessibility, making train travel an increasingly attractive option.
Through its Sustainable Transport Fund (STF), the airport has supported improved frequencies, longer timetables and new direct connections, including funding the doubling of the Great Western Railway service from Gatwick to Reading to two trains per hour. The airport also helping fund its redeveloped train station, which offers double the available concourse space, wider platforms, new lifts, stairs and escalators.
Alongside its excellent rail connectivity, London Gatwick is also served by an extensive local bus network – with up to 40 buses stopping at the airport each hour during peak times – while both National Express and Flixbus help connect London Gatwick with more than 50 destinations across the UK by coach.
With 43 million annual passengers, London Gatwick is the UK’s second largest and one of Europe’s top ten airports. It is a vital piece of national infrastructure that drives both the national and regional economies by generating £5.5 billion GVA and supporting over 76,000 jobs (2023). Almost 60 airlines fly from the airport to over 150 short-haul and more than 50 long-haul destinations. With a declared capacity of 55 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 (15 million 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 specializes 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 $170 billion 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, 1 September 2025
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