Gatwick Airport and other travel hubs have handled an increasing number of flights, according to new figures from National Air Traffic Services (NATS).
Research from the organisation revealed that in January there was a 4.6 per cent increase in the flights the group handled compared to the same month of 2010. This was the first time that NATS had recorded a notable monthly increase since the economic downturn began.

A number of specific airports experienced growth, with Glasgow Airport recording a 10.3 per cent rise, Aberdeen Airport a 10.5 per cent rise and Gatwick Airport 9.1 per cent.The recent increases in the number of flights could be due to January 2011 not seeing the same amount of snowfall as the same month of 2010 did, although statisticians said that there still would have been underlying growth of between one and two per cent even if there had been intemperate weather conditions.Latest figures show that, as the UK’s second largest travel hub, Gatwick Airport handles 33 million