Turnover was up 8.6 per cent to £391.6 million the airport had the busiest six months in its history with 22.5 million passengers, up eight per cent. This included one day in August of 906 air traffic movements – a world record for a single-runway airport. Stewart Wingate, CEO of London Gatwick, said: “Gatwick’s record-breaking year is testament to the significant investment made in improving the airport for passengers, and the benefits of greater competition in the London market. “Nearly five years of independent ownership have seen growth of five million more passengers and we are attracting new routes across the board - from low cost carriers and European business travel, to long haul providers and emerging markets. “There is huge momentum behind the airport, both in passenger growth and the increasing recognition that Gatwick is the most credible, deliverable choice for the UK’s next runway. But time is not on our side. Gatwick’s success and continued rate of growth means we are now unable to meet demand across much of the year and are just a few years away from hitting full capacity, ahead of earlier forecasts. “The capacity crunch facing Gatwick underlines the urgent need for a new runway. This time next year we will know which airport is chosen for expansion. Gatwick offers the compelling, credible option of a new runway that can actually be built, compared to an undeliverable Heathrow scheme and the threat of another report on airport expansion simply sitting on the shelf.” The growth has been a combination of factors including more planes, bigger planes and fuller planes. It is across a broad range of travel markets with long-haul traffic, European business routes and emerging markets and several airlines have increased frequencies on European routes and introduced new destinations. A series of new European business routes have been added including Strasbourg, Brussels and Paris and there has been a strong growth in business travel, One in five passengers are now travelling on business and Gatwick now serves 46 of the top 50 EU business destinations. Other key areas of long haul growth include the Middle East with increased capacity on existing routes such as Dubai and new services to Israel. New and existing routes to emerging markets have also fed into overall long-haul growth including Vietnam, Turkey, Russia and Indonesia Gatwick’s £1 billion investment programme continues with £90.5 million pounds invested over the last 6 months.