The number of passengers using Gatwick rose by a “moderate’ 1.2% to 34.2 million in the year to the end of March.
Turnover was up by 4.2% to almost £539 million but the airport reported a loss of £29.1 million. This reflected the “asset-intensive nature of the business and the continued investment” being made across the airport.
The airport spent £226.7 million in the year on projects such as runway resurfacing and new facilities in the North Terminal.
Airlines such as Air China and Turkish Airlines opened links to high-growth markets including Beijing and Istanbul, alongside new routes from existing carriers such as easyJet to Moscow.
Vietnam Airlines expanded its services and Garuda Indonesia announced the start of Europe’s only direct route to Jakarta from October.
Airport chief executive Stewart Wingate said: “Although economic headwinds have remained strong, Gatwick has delivered stable financial results in line with expectations.
“This year we saw moderate traffic growth of 1.2%. This compares favourably with our competitors and is very much reflective of the conditions in Europe.
“While our turnover has increased by 4.2% to £538.9 million and EBITDA improved by 2.5% to £227.1 million, the airport made a loss in the financial year of £29.1 million.”
He added: “We are proud of our excellent operational performance this year, particularly through major events such as the Olympics, and we are the only major London airport to have achieved 100% of our service quality targets. This led to record passenger satisfaction.
“Thanks to the opening of Europe’s largest World Duty Free store in South Terminal and major updates in both South and North Terminal departure lounges, we have seen income per passenger increase.”