Gatwick airport is struggling to keep up with its UK counterparts as they recover from September 11, new figures reveal today.

Transatlantic flights from the airport have dropped by 20 per cent since the terrorist attacks on the US.

The impact has been felt more keenly at Gatwick because some airlines have switched their operations to Heathrow.

The number of passengers passing through Gatwick in July was 3.25 million, 7.7 per cent down on last year.

The only other airport to have lost a similar proportion of passengers was Southampton, which dropped 7.2 per cent.

Gatwick bosses insist the result is still the second best they have had since September 2001.

They have denied speculation airlines are transferring to Heathrow following the Government announcement that Gatwick will not get a second runway before 2019.

At Heathrow, the July figure was just 0.1 per cent down on last year. Other airports around the UK, including Edinburgh and Stansted, succeeded in increasing passenger numbers.

Crawley MP Laura Moffatt said: "I was expecting worse than this, to be frank, but there is a lot of work to be done at Gatwick and we must not allow it to slip behind.

"In the meantime while others are looking at runway studies and arguing about where they should go in the South East, Gatwick should take this opportunity to get ahead.

"Gatwick has got to take its chance and place itself in the market as a fantastic frontline international airport, and as MP for the area I am certainly not going let it slip into second place."

There was an overall increase in passenger travel of 0.4 per cent at airport operator BAA's seven airports, which bosses attributed to the holiday season.

The market has been rocked by the events of September 11 as well as the global economic downturn and BAA said recovery "remained slow".

The news came as US Airways, one of the largest airlines in the United States, filed for bankruptcy.

The airline, which operates flights from Gatwick, suffered badly as a result of the economic recession and the downturn in the aviation industry following the 11 September terror attacks on New York and Washington.

Last week Sweden-based Transjet announced it was going into administration and was unable to pay its staff.

Up to 50 workers from Gatwick were affected, although passengers due to fly with the company were picked up by other airlines.

A spokesman for the airport said: "It is encouraging to see the continuing recovery of traffic.

"While we are still suffering from the impact of September 11, we remain confident and optimistic that in time we will get back on track and begin to see an upturn in traffic growth."

Despite the bankruptcy announcement by US Airways a spokesman said it was "business as usual" for the company's operations at Gatwick.