<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Sources: UK AIP at NATS Statistics from Gatwick Airport Limited </Td> </Tr> <P> Gatwick Airport (/ ˈɡætwɪk /), also known as London Gatwick (IATA: LGW, ICAO: EGKK) is a major international airport near Crawley in West Sussex, southeast England, 29.5 miles (47.5 km) south of Central London . It is the second - busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the United Kingdom, after London Heathrow . Gatwick is the eighth - busiest airport in Europe . Until 2017, it was the busiest single - use runway airport in the world . </P> <P> Gatwick opened as an aerodrome in the late 1920s, it has been in use for commercial flights since 1933 . The airport has two terminals, the North Terminal and the South Terminal, which cover areas of 98,000 m (1,050,000 sq ft) and 160,000 m (1,700,000 sq ft) respectively . It operates as a single - runway airport, using a main runway with a length of 3,316 m (10,879 ft). A secondary runway is available but, due to its proximity to the main runway, can only be used if that is out of use . In 2017, 45.6 million passengers passed through the airport, a 5.2% increase compared with 2016 . </P> <P> The land on which Gatwick Airport stands was first developed as an aerodrome in the late 1920s . The Air Ministry approved commercial flights from the site in 1933, and the first terminal, "The Beehive", was built in 1935 . Scheduled air services from the new terminal began the following year . Major development work at the airport took place during the 1950s . The airport buildings were designed by Yorke Rosenberg Mardall between 1955 and 1988 . </P>

How many runways are there at gatwick airport