British Airways Plane at Heathrow Airport
British Airways Plane at Heathrow Airport

London Airports

London has namely 6 airports, which help the general public to travel from and to London. They are Heathrow Airport, Stansted, Gatwick, Luton, London city airport and London Southend. Below we have taken a shot at detailing the services offered by each of the airports.

1. Heathrow Airport (LHR)

The biggest and the busiest of them all is Heathrow Airport. Heathrow Airport manages more international passengers than any other airport in the world. Having 5 terminals still at the time of holidays they are packed with passengers and people travelling from all around the world. The new terminal 5 was opened recently for long-haul flights from and to London. Commuting to and from Heathrow Airport is very efficient. The airport is situated in the western part of central London and is well-connected by trains, buses, tube stations and cabs. Below are the stats of Heathrow Airport services in 2018.

Daily number of flights (Average) 1,300
Annual passenger numbers 80.1 million
Passengers per day 219,458 – split between arrivals and departures
Busiest day recorded 29th July 2018 – 261,909 passengers
Cargo volume 1.70 million metric tonnes
Revenue £2.97 million

2. Gatwick Airport (LGW)

Gatwick is the second biggest and busiest airport in London. The airport is situated about 29 miles south of London. Consisting of two terminals which are the north and the south terminal, both of them are well connected and all the facilities have a smooth transit between and to the airports. Gatwick Express Rail provides the smoothest transit solution from Gatwick Airport to central London. There is also an every-hour coach service by National Express, which goes from Victoria coach station to Gatwick airport. The following are the facilities available at LGW:

Facilities at London Gatwick Airport (LWG)

  • Number of runways: 1
  • Runway length: 3,316m long by 45m wide
  • Number of terminals: 2 – South (opened in 1958) and North (opened in 1988)
  • South Terminal is 160,000 square metres of which 14,768 square metres is retail facilities
  • North Terminal is 98,000 square metres of which 12,530 square metres is retail facilities
  • There are 119 stands, with a total of 186 centrelines – the ability to use a stand flexibly means we can park up to 186 aircraft
    • 31 South Terminal stands
    • 31 North Terminal stands
    • 57 remote stands served by coaches
  • We have 245 check-in desks, 123 self-service check-in desks and 119 self-service bag drop kiosks.

The following stats are available from the Gatwick Airport website:

2021

2019

Total passengers 6.3 million 46.6 million
Aircraft movements 52,000 280,700
Total number of
aircraft seats
9.7 million 53.9 million
Average load factor 65% 86.3%
Biggest airline easyJet carrying
3.9m passengers
easyJet carrying
19m passengers
Long haul
passengers
9% 19%
Top destination
served
Dublin
(320k passengers)
Barcelona
(1.6m passengers)

Gatwick Airport Parking 6 different types of airport parking are available:

  1. Short stay parking
  2. Long stay parking
  3. Premium parking
  4. Valet Parking
  5. Blue Badge
  6. Commuter
  7. Summer Special Parking

If you’re looking for cheap parking at Gatwick Airport or the most convenient Gatwick parking, then look no further. Gatwick Airport offers a wide range of Gatwick parking options available exclusively for pre-booking on our website.

  • We have a wide choice of parking options from budget to premium
  • Our car parks are closest to the terminals
  • Safe and secure parking with 24-hour CCTV
  • Official Gatwick bus shuttle service from long-stay car parks
  • Online booking management is available

Pre Book & Save Up To 60% on Gatwick Airport Parking

3. Stansted Airport (STN)

The third airport which is of great significance is Stansted Airport which is growing into one of the busiest and fastest airports in Europe. The airport is located 39 miles to the northeast of London. Many low-cost airlines take their flight from this airport. Flights scheduled from this airport are mostly to the Mediterranean and European destinations. Even Heathrow’s Terminal 1 serves European destinations but Stansted covers a lot more than Heathrow Terminal 1.

4. Luton Airport (LTN)

Luton Airport is also one of the bigger airports in the UK. It is not as busy as Heathrow Airport but still received 9 million passengers in 2010-2011. The airport is based in North West of central London and is about 33 miles away from central London Oxford Street. The easiest way to reach Luton airport is to go by Easy Bus services. The fares start from as low as £2 one way of the journey; the pickups are available from Victoria Coach station.

5. City Airport

The City airport is situated at the heart of the city. The airport like any other airport was stuck by the COVID pandemic and we can see the stats below where the number of passengers travelling via the City Airport drastically dropped.

Following are the stats available from the City Airport Website:

Total passenger numbers

Passengers Year
713,969 2021
905,326 2020
5,100,025 2019
4,800,190 2018
4,511,107 2017
4,526,059 2016
4,319,749 2015

6. Southend Airport

Southend Airport is the smallest airport in London City with regard to passenger numbers but still recorded 1.4 million people in 2018. This number or record is definitely big but the fact is that other international airports have a greater number of passengers travelling through. It is a popular hub for low-cost airlines like Ryanair and EasyJet. Like any other airport, Southend Airport was also hit hard by the Pandemic.

Airport Transfers

After reaching London at any of the above-mentioned airports, you would like to reach your accommodation. Keeping this in mind we have partnered with National Express and Terravision.

Check out the latest offers from them below: