Gatwick Airport set for 'significant increase' in travellers over Christmas
The West Sussex site is set to welcome up to 200 flights a day over the festive period
Up to 200 flights a day are set to take off from Gatwick Airport over the festive period.
The West Sussex airport is expecting to see a 'significant increase' in travellers over the Christmas period, with top destinations including Dublin, Geneva and Tenerife.
That is compared to the usual total of more than 700 flights a day during this time.
The increase in demand has been described as 'positive news' for the aviation industry, following the second national lockdown.
It comes as the Government’s new 'test to release' system comes into effect today (15 December), meaning travellers arriving in England from non-exempt destinations will be able to reduce their self-isolation period - if they have a negative result from a COVID-19 test after five days.
This is in addition to the Government announcement that overall quarantine time has been reduced from 14 to 10 days.
Stewart Wingate, CEO at Gatwick Airport, said:
"We know the demand for international travel is strong, especially as we approach the festive period.
"It is vital for the recovery of the aviation industry that we make travelling during the pandemic as safe and easy as possible.
"With our airlines increasing flying schedules to meet this demand, we expect to see many more passengers travelling through Gatwick than over the past couple of months and we are doing all we can to offer passengers a greater level of reassurance.
"Passengers are able to book COVID-19 PCR screening at Gatwick or of course use other providers away from the airport if they want to get away this Christmas.
"In addition, expanding the provision of UV technology across more security lanes in the North Terminal is yet another innovative step we have taken in helping protect passengers at Gatwick Airport."
Gatwick became the first UK airport to treat security trays with enough UV light energy to guarantee a 99.9 per cent microbe disinfection rate in September.
The expansion of the system, which is provided by Smiths Detection, ensures passengers can travel in the reassurance of 'Covid-free' security trays – a ‘high-touch’ surface area.
Laboratory testing has found the UV light energy reduces the spread of coronaviruses such as COVID-19 and SARS.
Gatwick and other airports have already started using other anti-viral systems, such as coatings sprayed on to trays, but this is said to dissipate over time whereas this new system treats every tray just before use.
There are also pre-departure COVID-19 screening options available at the West Sussex airport, including a 'subsidised, fast and accurate' lab-analysed PCR swab test, as well as 'test and rest' packages at on-site hotels.