# London Gatwick Airport (LGW)

> London, GB · IATA: LGW · ICAO: EGKK · Large Airport · Cargo Hub

## Quick Facts

| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| IATA | `LGW` |
| ICAO | `EGKK` |
| City | London |
| Country | GB |
| Type | Large Airport |
| Elevation | 62 m |
| Cargo | ✅ |
| GPS | 51.14877, -0.19209 |

## Description

London Gatwick (LGW/EGKK) is not a freighter airport in the conventional sense but a pronounced bellyhold location: the roughly 61,000 tonnes recorded in 2023, the most recent fully reported year, came overwhelmingly from the lower decks of long-haul flights out of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. In May 2026 the airport took control of the on-airport World Cargo Centre, some 1,747 square metres, putting its key freight handling facility under its own management for the first time. The move follows government approval of the Northern Runway programme, under which Gatwick expects cargo volumes to reach around 161,500 tonnes by the late 2030s. There is no meaningful scheduled freighter operation; UK express and full-charter traffic concentrates at Stansted and East Midlands. Typical commodities are high-value, time-critical goods such as manufacturing components, pharmaceuticals and perishables. Since the UK left the EU, consignments to and from the European Union require full customs declarations through the Customs Declaration Service, noticeably increasing lead times and documentation compared with intra-EU movements. The M23 and M25 open up southern England for trucking, complemented by road feeder services to Heathrow and the Midlands. For larger shipments or freighter departures, Heathrow (LHR, about 70 km) and Stansted (STN, roughly 100 km) are the practical alternatives.

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*Freight Academy — Airport Profile: [https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/london-gatwick-airport-lgw](https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/london-gatwick-airport-lgw)*

*Markdown mirror: [https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/london-gatwick-airport-lgw](https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/london-gatwick-airport-lgw)*

*LLM-Summary (JSON): https://www.freight-academy.com/api/v1/airports/london-gatwick-airport-lgw/llm-summary*