Gatwick home to UK’s furthest airport departure gate

Brits jetting off on their summer holidays from Gatwick Airport will have to travel more than a mile just to reach the airport’s furthest departure gate.

New research by Direct Line travel insurance has revealed that Gatwick is the UK airport with the greatest distance from a terminal entrance to the furthest departure gate.

Holidaymakers entering Gatwick’s North Terminal face a trek of 1.12 miles to reach the furthest departure point. In contrast the equivalent journey at all five of Heathrow’s terminals is less than a mile, and at Luton and Stansted it is less than half a mile.

The distance to the furthest gate at Gatwick also exceeds the equivalent journey at many larger international airports including New York JFK, Tokyo, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Hong Kong.

Beijing Capital airport has the longest distance to a departure gate of any international airport. Travellers using the airport’s Terminal 3 face a two mile journey from the terminal’s main entrance to the furthest gate.

Tom Bishop, head of travel insurance at Direct Line, said: “Holidaymakers travelling from Gatwick may not realise they could face a journey of more than a mile to reach a departure gate. We would advise them to plan ahead and allow plenty of time to reach their flight regardless of which airport they are travelling from.

“This is particularly important during the next few weeks as all of the major airports in the UK are likely to be very busy due to the peak summer holiday season and influx of Olympics-related visitors.”

Follow us @TravelBite