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www.gatwickairport.com
The airport grew by 3.2 million passengers in 2016/17
(up 8% compared to 2015/16), increasing its share of
the London market to 26.4%, against a background
of strong competition from other London airports,
which collectively added 5.1 million passengers.
Gatwick Airport is an important focus for the South
East region’s economic activity and is a major
employment site, generating around 24,000 direct
on-airport jobs and a further 12,000 airport related
jobs in the local area, including Croydon. The
airport’s GDP impact in the Gatwick Diamond rises
to £2.3bn, when including its supply chain activity,
and the wages that its staff (and suppliers’ staff)
spend in the wider consumer economy.
The airport-related supply chain also plays an
important role in the economic success of the
region and Gatwick Airport currently spends around
a third of its total procurement spend (£139.4m) with
businesses in the local area. Gatwick is involved in a
range of activities to support the local economy and
local businesses in Croydon, including sponsorship
of the Ikea hosted 'Big Breakfast' networking events,
the annual Croydon Business Excellence Awards as
well as being members of Develop Croydon.
The airport has excellent public transport links
including the Gatwick Express. It’s just 14 minutes
from East Croydon by train, half an hour to London
and half an hour to the south coast.
Gatwick Airport reached a record 45 million
passengers in a year for the first time in June
2017 and now offers direct routes to more than
60 long haul destinations across the globe.