Continued from page 64 “What explicitly are you


concerned about? What is driving most uncertainty? What will have the greatest impact? Have you accounted for the range of possibilities? “Getting people to realise they


can have influence is important. The tendency is to be defensive when there could be opportunities to reshape a business.” Winton acknowledges:


“It’s hard to take a risk and say you’re going to transform a business model – and difficult to look for opportunities, for example, in relation to climate change. The desire to travel isn’t going to go away. [But] the way people experience tourism will be different. If temperatures continue to rise, will that shift part of the market to the UK? “You’re stuck in a trap if you


always think short term. So, what are your assumptions about your business and what might you do differently? What is your current strategy and how robust is it? Who else is in your ecosystem? How robust are they? “What value are you providing?


Is it around trust? [Consider] two or three scenarios and ask: ‘Is the value the same in each?’ “Think about multiple ways


the future could look, [because] things we thought unthinkable in 2019 are now normal. We’ve seen a transformation in the way we work. You can hope the uncertainty goes away, but you have agency. You need to be curious about what is happening. No hiding from it.”


i For full details about The Travel Convention, and to register, visit: dellardavies-ttc2026.eventsairsite.com


Gatwick passengers fall 5% in first half of year


Ian Taylor


Gatwick saw a near 5% fall in passenger numbers on 2025 in the first six months of this year in the clearest marker yet of the impact on travel of the US war on Iran and wider economic uncertainty. The UK’s second-largest airport


and number one for holiday traffic saw a 4.7% decline in passengers to 19.1 million, blaming the Middle East war and “capacity reductions from some low-cost carriers” for the shortfall. The war “disrupted airspace and


increased fuel prices”, with passengers to and from the Middle East down 34% on the first half of 2025. Wholesale cancellation of flights


to and from the Gulf following the start of the war on February 28 and Foreign Office advice against travel to or transit via the region up to June 18 had a chilling effect on long-haul demand eastwards. Gatwick handled 200,000 fewer passengers to the Middle East and,


The airport’s half-year financial Gatwick handled


19.1m passengers in six months to June


although these losses were partially compensated by an increase in numbers flying direct to East and South Asia, the airport recorded 200,000 fewer long-haul passengers in total, a 9% fall year on year. However, there was a bigger fall in


short-haul traffic with numbers down by 700,000, or almost 4%. This was despite Jet2 launching flights from Gatwick in March and easyJet adding almost 2% or 190,000 seats to capacity. Tui cut its Gatwick flying by 6%,


Wizz Air operated two fewer aircraft from the airport and British Airways’ sister carrier Vueling cut routes other than to Spain.


report noted destinations “with a perceived association with the conflict in the Middle East”, including Cyprus, Turkey, Greece and northern Africa, experienced weaker than expected demand. “While load factors were higher in


the first quarter of the year [than in 2025], they were lower in the second quarter after the start of the conflict.” Gatwick also claimed government


slot-alleviation measures – relaxing the requirement on airlines to use allocated take-off and landing slots 80% of the time or lose them – “adversely impacted traffic volumes”, although airlines hailed the measures as preventing last-minute cancellations. The combined pressures led


Gatwick “to refocus efforts on managing our cost base”. The airport reported a pre-tax


profit of £80 million for the six months, down from £130 million last year, despite a near 5% rise in revenue to £515 million.


CAA reports rise in passengers despite conflict in the Gulf


UK air passengers flew in record numbers in the three months to June despite the war in the Gulf, according to Civil Aviation Authority figures. An increase of 120,000 year


on year took numbers well above 81 million and followed a record first quarter when numbers were up


62 3 SEPTEMBER 2026


by one million on 2025, which was itself a record year. A rise of more than one


million in passengers to and from western Europe in April to June compensated for a fall in long-haul passengers. The CAA reported Ryanair and


Jet2 saw the lion’s share of growth – both recording 9% year-on-year growth in passenger numbers. The overall increase in traffic


came despite declines at the UK’s two biggest airports, with a 3% drop at Heathrow in the second quarter and a near 5% decline at Gatwick


in the first half of the year. The CAA noted passenger


numbers to Dubai halved year on year, with 771,000 fewer passengers travelling to the UAE and 391,000 fewer flying to Qatar.


travelweekly.co.uk


PICTURES: Laurie Noble Photography; Shutterstock/Yau Ming Low, niki_spasov, Omer Faruk, Markus Mainka


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68