Gatwick airport has had another year-on-year increase in passenger numbers, it was revealed today.

More services on domestic, European and long-haul routes saw a rise of 4.2 per cent on the November 2002 total.

At other major UK airports, fans travelling to cheer on British teams in the rugby World Cup in Australia helped boost passenger number.

But the rugby did not have as much effect at Gatwick as the three-times-a-day route to Australia only started at the beginning of last month.

A spokesman for the airport said: "These figures are very encouraging for Gatwick.

"November was a busy month for us with domestic and European routes doing well but it was particularly good to see the long haul routes being so busy.

"In November we had the launch of a new service to Sydney, earlier this month a new service to Johannesburg started and this week will see the start of a new service to the Middle East so these are exciting times for Gatwick airport."

Across the UK, North Atlantic passenger numbers were 5.0 per cent up last month and other long-haul traffic, boosted by the rugby, rose 7.5 per cent.