London Gatwick Airport, in the UK, is gearing up for a busy flying season for summer, with around six million passengers scheduled to transit through airport during this period.
While most flights for the 2012 London Olympics Games are landing at Heathrow Airport, Gatwick Airport is expected to handle round 10 percent arrivals for the world’s biggest sporting event.
With schools in Britain closing for the summer break from July 20, 2012, until September 3, 2012, the airports will also handling a large number of British travellers flying out of the country for a vacation abroad with family and friends, to warmer destinations.
The airport is reporting that its busiest day is expected to be on August 17, 2012, when around 138,000 passengers will be passing through the airport.
Paul Fitch, the airport head of terminal operations, said, ‘Over this summer London will be turned into a huge sporting venue, watched and celebrated the world over. And although Gatwick is not a designated port of entry for this great sporting event, we are expecting to handle around 10 percent of all Games goers, so we will be doing all we can to make every journey for every passenger a positively memorable one this summer.
Over the past few years, we have invested around £600 million to provide facilities that will ensure passengers can go from train to plane and back again with as little fuss as possible. There are more self-service check-in options to give passengers greater freedom to tag their own bags and drop them off.
We have upgraded our security areas and introduced more lanes so that our guests can travel in confidence and know that we can get them through the process within five minutes or less 95 percent of the time – even during the busiest times of the day. We have also worked hard with our airlines and the Border Force to ensure the return journey is just as efficient.
This is a special summer, and our staff and volunteers will wholeheartedly embrace the spirit of the Games and ensure all our guests arrive and leave with a positive impression of Gatwick and the great city it serves.’
