Want to fly to Britain? Its struggling travel industry hopes it just got easier

In a summer full of depressing travel news, Canada finally delivered Stewart Wingate, the CEO of London's Gatwick Airport, something he could celebrate. 

For the first time in almost a year, the blue star of Canada's third-largest carrier, Air Transat, was back at Gatwick as the airline resumed flights to the United Kingdom this week after a break during the pandemic.

"To have the Air Transat planes back in the sky, it's incredibly important to us," Wingate told CBC in an interview from the rooftop of Gatwick's nearly deserted South Terminal.

Air Transat's return came just a few days before Britain revamped its international travel rules on Friday in a bid to restore consumer confidence in taking an overseas holiday. Westjet, which also flies into Gatwick, had resumed flights from Calgary and Toronto in July.

Once the busiest single-runway airport in the world, with a plane taking off or landing roughly once a minute, Gatwick, 50 kilometers south of London, is operating at only one-third of its usual capacity. Pre-pandemic, Gatwick claims it was Europe's 16th-busiest airport in terms of passenger volume, whereas now it has fallen to 64th place.

Gatwick's focus is largely on leisure traffic, and it's the hub for discount carrier EasyJet.

Likewise, London's No. 1 airport — Heathrow — has also seen its passenger numbers fall off a cliff, dropping by more than 80 per cent since the start of the pandemic.