Gatwick is trailing badly in the passenger stakes, according to figures from the British Airports Authority.
Although general figures are up in the UK, the North Atlantic market is still being affected by the aftermath of last year's September 11 terror attacks, with numbers down by more than ten er cent on figures from November two years ago.
Gatwick showed a year- on-year increase of 9.8 per cent - but the figure was 33.8 per cent at Stansted and 13.9 per cent at Heathrow.
Gatwick has been hit by low-fare deals at other UK airports that have taken away passengers.
Stansted's low-fare figures were up by 43 per cent while Gatwick's slumped by 12 per cent on figures from 2000.
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