London Gatwick has experienced the busiest January in its history, with 2.8 million passengers travelling through the airport, an increase of 1.4 per cent year-on-year.
The result also marks the airport’s 59th consecutive month of growth.
As thousands of Brits travelled Stateside for a January escape, US routes saw the biggest percentage increase in passenger numbers.
Fort Lauderdale was the North American destination with the highest passenger growth rate, up 92.6 per cent on January 2017.
New York and Boston also saw significant year-on-year growth – up 51.1 per cent and 31.4 per cent respectively – while the US West Coast proved popular too, with Oakland, San Francisco up 76.6 per cent and Los Angeles increasing 38.6 per cent.
Gatwick Airport chief executive, Stewart Wingate said: “We’ve started 2018 as we mean to go on at Gatwick, with record January passenger numbers and considerable year-on-year growth across our long-haul route network.
“January’s traffic shows that US destinations are increasingly popular and next month we’ll be providing even more options for passengers travelling Stateside with the launch of new routes to Austin and Chicago.
“These new connections will be joined this summer by British Airways’ biggest summer schedule at the airport in almost ten years – a 15 per cent increase in weekly flights compared to last year.
“As we approach five consecutive years of growth, Gatwick continues to play an increased role for Britain on the global stage and we stand ready to build our financeable and deliverable second runway scheme for the country.”