London Gatwick chief executive Pierre-Hugues Schmit said the ongoing conflict in the Middle East was the ‘primary factor’ behind a drop in passenger numbers at the airport.

Passenger numbers passing through Gatwick fell by 4.7 per cent to 19.1 million in the six months to June 30.

Long-haul travel experienced the sharpest decline, dropping 9.2 per cent as a result of the conflict in the Middle East.

Mr Schmit said that while the ongoing geopolitical situation in the Middle East had impacted passenger numbers, this had been off-set by ‘new airlines’ and passengers finding ways to circumvent the area.

London Gatwick chief executive Pierre-Hugues Schmit. Picture courtesy of London Gatwick

placeholder image — London Gatwick chief executive Pierre-Hugues Schmit. Picture courtesy of London Gatwick

London Gatwick’s chief executive added the airport’s Middle Eastern routes were returning at a ‘steady rate’, highlighting Emirates’ – the world's largest long haul airline and the largest airline in the Middle East – recovery to operate ‘90 per cent’ of its flight schedule.

He said: “It (the conflict in the Middle East) was definitely the primary factor (in passenger numbers dropping). We are still offering routes to destinations in the Middle East. That’s recovering partially at some form of steady rate.

“Emirates in July, for instance, is back flying 90 per cent of its schedule, so it is recovering.

“But it was a significant portion of our capacity. We had flights with Emirates, Qatar (Airways), Gulf (Air), and there was also some impact on countries that were in the region that were affected by the (situation in the) Middle East, so that was the number one factor.

“There were two other factors. Wizz Air and Vueling both had some restrictions in their networks for different reasons. That was another reason why there was a drop.

“Some of it was off-set by the new airlines coming in, and some of it was off-set, in the context of the Middle East, by passengers finding another routing. The demand is still there so they flew directly to Asia.

“We’ve seen a really good pick up in China flights. We’re quite heavy now in destinations into China.

“We also saw good picks up into flights to Singapore, for example. That is now twice-daily. And some of it is going beyond Singapore, going further beyond into Australia.

“The market has reorganised itself a little bit. We also saw pick up in eastern Africa destinations. Everything that couldn’t go through the Middle East, went through other points.

“There was some off-set there as well, not to the same magnitude of what we lost, but it was interesting to see the demand is still there.”