Gatwick's North and South terminals

Gatwick has had two terminals since the North Terminal opened in 1988 to relieve the original building. In January 2017 the airport carried out what it called the big switch, moving airlines between North and South in one of the largest reorganisations since the airport opened in 1958. British Airways took new lounge space in the South Terminal; other carriers moved the other way.

The arrangement that came out of it is the one in force today. The North Terminal is easyJet's main base, while the South Terminal serves British Airways, Ryanair and Jet2 among others. Gatwick remains the busiest single-runway airport in the world, handling around 43 million passengers in 2025, and its Northern Runway project was approved in September 2025.

The two terminals are not walkable. They are connected by an inter-terminal shuttle, and getting it wrong on arrival costs ten to fifteen minutes at a point in the journey where you are least likely to have it spare. That is why we ask for the terminal as well as the flight number, and why it is worth confirming with the airline rather than relying on a booking made months earlier.

Written by Airports Transfer in September 2026 for passengers travelling to and from London airports.