On this page (5 sections)
Today's flights: the two boards
The site runs two schedule boards, one each way. The arrivals board lists inbound flights with the scheduled landing time and the terminal, plus everything that happens between the gate and the kerb: passport control, bags, customs and the pick-up options. The departures board mirrors it for outbound flights and carries the deadlines by carrier, from bag-drop cut-offs to when gates close. Both show the published schedule and the terminal, which is the planning layer; for live status on the day (landed, delayed, cancelled, which belt), the operating airline's app tracks your specific flight and can push alerts for it. Schedule from us, live status from your airline, and you have the full picture.
Airlines and terminals
Gatwick is the UK's second-busiest airport, with just over 43 million passengers in 2024 and around 60 airlines on the books. One carrier towers over the rest: easyJet operates roughly half of all flights here, its biggest base anywhere, and since the 2026 summer season it flies from the North Terminal only. British Airways, the second-largest operator, works from the South Terminal. Everything else slots around those two poles, and the airline, not the destination, decides which terminal you use.
| Terminal | The big names there |
|---|---|
| North Terminal | easyJet, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, SWISS, TUI flights numbered TOM |
| South Terminal | British Airways, Ryanair, Wizz Air, Vueling, Norwegian, Jet2, TUI flights numbered BY |
The complete list, carrier by carrier with check-in areas, is on airlines at Gatwick, and the terminal lookup answers the North-or-South question in one scan, including the TUI flight-number split. For what each building actually holds, from food to gates, the deep guides are the North Terminal and the South Terminal. Confirm the terminal on the booking itself rather than from memory; allocations move, and easyJet's 2026 consolidation at North is exactly the kind of change that catches repeat travellers out.
Where Gatwick flies
Gatwick serves more than 220 destinations direct: over 100 European destinations across more than 30 countries, and more than 50 long-haul routes, from Dubai and Shanghai to Goa and Nairobi. The mix leans hard toward short-haul leisure, which is why the summer boards read like a Mediterranean atlas, but the long-haul side has been rebuilding fast, and the airport reports its summer 2026 line-up as the largest since 2019. Seasonal routes come and go with the timetable change each spring and autumn. The destinations guide maps where you can fly from Gatwick, year-round and seasonal, and which airline flies each corridor.
Delays, cancellations and connections
When the schedule slips, the useful moves are all off the board. The delays and cancellations guide covers them in order: where the live status actually lives, what the airline owes you (the refund-or-rebook choice, food and drink, a room if you are stranded overnight), and when compensation applies on top. The short version is that your rights survive even the disruptions the airline could not help; only the compensation depends on cause and notice.
Connections have their own trap at Gatwick: there is no airside link between the terminals. Changing planes across terminals means border control where your route requires it, the free shuttle, and a fresh pass through security, which is why Gatwick says to allow at least 60 min for a same-terminal connection and 90 min across terminals, with airlines free to demand more. The connecting flights guide covers the timings, the baggage question and the self-connect gamble.
Before you fly: the numbers that matter
A few figures do most of the work on departure day. Gatwick's advice is to arrive at least 2 hours before your flight, with check-in desks normally opening around 4 hours before long-haul, 3 hours before European and 2 hours before UK and Ireland departures; the hard cut-offs are airline rules, printed on your booking. Security allows containers of up to 2 litres through at Gatwick since March 2026, with laptops staying in bags, though airports abroad may still hold you to 100ml on the way back. And boarding runs on screens, not announcements: gates appear on the displays and close 20 to 30 minutes before departure depending on the carrier. The detail sits on the check-in guide and the security guide, and the departures board page carries the per-airline deadlines.