Airport crisis 'over by Christmas'

The number of passengers dropped by a fifth in November, with 1,636,000 people catching flights compared with more than 2 million in November 2000.

The figures show Gatwick was the worst hit of the seven BAA-owned UK airports after the September 11 atrocities.

More than 2,000 jobs have already been lost and more cuts are expected.

But airport bosses insist last year's November figures were artificially boosted by the petrol crisis and rail chaos, which led to a surge in demand for domestic flights.

Today they published figures predicting a Christmas comeback, with more than half a million passengers expected to use the airport between December 21 and January 2.

In the four days leading to December 25 more than 250,000 passengers are expected to pass through the gates. Sunday December 23 will be the busiest day, with 74,000 passengers.

Gatwick's new managing director, Roger Cato, said he was confident new business, particularly budget airlines, would bring a return to growth despite the current climate.

He said: "We are already talking with airlines such as EasyJet and with tour operators to look at ways of helping those who want to build their business here."

Mr Cato said: "The busy Christmas is great news for Gatwick and the industry as a whole.

"It takes us into the New Year with growing confidence that we are beginning to see indications of an upturn in passenger numbers, which we are optimistic will carry through to the summer season.

"There are already indications consumer confidence is growing despite the hysteria."

BAA airports handled 8.1 million passengers last month, a fall of 10.6 per cent over the previous year's figures.

But that represented a slight improvement on the October figures of minus 12 per cent.

Heathrow also suffered a downturn last month, with a drop in passenger numbers of 13.5 per cent.

But low fare services at Stansted, Edinburgh and Glasgow led to passenger increases ranging from 3.3 per cent to 8.2 per cent.