Why does London have so many airports?

It is not as if the city of London planned where to put each airport. They were there when the need for additional capacity appeared; in some cases the airports initially served local municipalities and cargo airlines, later to be used by charter and other airlines when the airports closer to London were full.



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London has six major airports: London City, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, London Luton, London Stansted and London Southend. Find all the information you need about London's airport facilities, locations and connections, including a London airports map.

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London's airports serve a much wider region than just the city and surroundings. They act, at least, as the main airports for the whole of the south of England. And with good public transport connections in the UK (like many other European countries) they in fact serve passengers across the country.

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It is not as if the city of London planned where to put each airport. They were there when the need for additional capacity appeared; in some cases the airports initially served local municipalities and cargo airlines, later to be used by charter and other airlines when the airports closer to London were full.

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Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport remains the busiest airport in the world with 5.2 million seats in September 2023. The composition of the Global Top 10 Busiest Airports is also the same as last month but there are a few changes to the rankings.

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Gatwick follows as the secondary and second busiest airport. Heathrow is larger and has better links in and out of the airport to Central London. Heathrow has five terminals and four runways.

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The name Heathrow is named after the ancient hamlet Heath Row, upon where the airport is now built. The settlement, which was largely an agricultural area, was demolished fully in 1944 to make way for the development of the airfield.

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Both London and New York stand on top of the list of cities with the most numbers of airports, with six functional airports. Among all the airports in London, Heathrow and Gatwick are the largest airports in the world.

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The name Gatwick is said to derive from old English meaning (essentially) “Goat Farm”. The London & Brighton Railway opened on 12th July 1841 and ran close to the Gatwick Manor house. The Jordan family sold the land to the newly established Gatwick Race Course Company in 1890.

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Southend Airport It's the smallest of all the city's airports but remains well-connected to the town centre via train to London Liverpool Street. The airport is about 50 miles east of London, between the city and the ocean.

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London Heathrow (LHR) is the busiest airport in the UK, handling almost twice the number of passengers as the next entry on the list.

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Heathrow Airport in London is the UK's largest and busiest airport as well as being the busiest airport in Europe and the seventh busiest in the world based on passenger traffic. Located in the west of the city, in the London borough of Hillingdon, Heathrow hosts two runways and four operational terminal buildings.

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Heathrow is larger and has better links in and out of the airport to Central London. Heathrow has five terminals and four runways. Meanwhile, Gatwick has two terminals and two runways. Heathrow is nearer to Central London.

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College Park Airport, US
The world's oldest airport is College Park Airport (CGS), located in College Park, Maryland, in the United States. Wilbur Wright first landed at the field in 1909 to train two military officers for the US Army.

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The airfield is managed by three FAA air traffic control towers. O'Hare has a voluntary nighttime (22:00–07:00) noise abatement program. Currently, O'Hare has the most runways of any civilian airport in the world, totaling eight.

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